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MICHIGAN. 



CONDENSED POPULAR SKETCHES 



Topography, Climate and Geology 



OF THE STATE. 



/by 
ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL. D., 

CHANCELLOR OF THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY; LATE PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, 
ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 



[Extracted, by permission, from Waiting's Atlas of Michigan.] 



PRINTED BY 

THE CLAREMONT MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 
1873. 



Gi.V 







NOTE. 

The author's attention, during a long residence 
in Michigan, was directed, both by his natural 
tastes and by professional duties, to the physical 
characteristics of the State; and, in this study, he 
accumulated a large fund of information which 
has never been published. The following papers 
are rather hastily prepared and incomplete ab- 
stracts of the information in his possession respect- 
ing the Topography, Climate and- Geology of the 
State. Arrangements have been made for pub- 
lishing the complete details of the Topography. 



TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY. 



BY ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL. D. 

Professor of Geology, Zoology, and Botany in the University of 
Michigan. Late Director of the State Geological Survey. 



THE STATE OF MICHIGAN occupies 
a position approximating the centre of 
the continent of North America. The geo- 
graphical centre of the continent is not far 
from the Lake of the Woods, which is 560 
miles in a straight line from the centre of 
the State, and 260 miles from its western 
extremity. The centre of the State is marked 
by the position of Carp Lake, in Lelanau 
county, which is 670 miles in a straight line 
from New York, the nearest point on the 
Atlantic Seaboard. The State is limited by 
natural boundaries on all sides except the 
south. Politically,* it has 708.5 miles coter- 

* The political boundaries of the State are defined by the fol- 
lowing documents : Sixth Article of the Treaty of Ghent ; Report 
of Commisioners provided by that Article, and dated June 18, 
1822 ; Act admitting Michigan into the Union, Jane 15, 1856 ; Act 



minous with the Dominion of Canada; 55.5 
miles coterminous with Minnesota; 571 
miles coterminous with Wisconsin ; 58 miles 
bordering on Illinois ; 129.2 miles on Indi- 
ana, and 92.8 miles on Ohio ; making a total 
length of boundary line, amounting to 1615 
miles. 

The land area of the State consists of two 
natural divisions, known as the Upper and 
Lower Peninsulas, to which are attached the 
contiguous islands. The Upper Peninsula 
is bounded by portions of the lakes Superior, 
Michigan and Huron, the river St. Mary 
and the State of Wisconsin. The Lower 
Peninsula is embraced by lakes Michigan, 
Huron, St. Clair and Erie, and the St. Clair * 
and Detroit rivers ; and is bounded on the 
south by the States of Ohio and Indiana. 

The main land of the State is embraced 
between the parallels of 41° 692 and 47° 478 
north latitude, and the meridians of 82° 407 

of April 19, 1816, Sec. 2 ; Act admitting Wisconsin, Aug. 6, 1846 ; 
Act of April 18, 1818, Sec. 2. For the original boundary of Ohio 
on the north, see Act of April 30, 1802. 

* The river St. Clair was originally named Sinclair from Patrick 
Sinclair, a British military officer, who purchased of the Indians, 
in 1765, 4000 acres of land on the river. Lake St. Clair was so 
named from a French officer. (American State Papers, Public 
Lands, Vol. I, p. 246.) 



and 90° 536 of longitude west from Green- 
wich. The most northerly point is the north 
side of Keweenaw Point, five miles west of 
the Light House at Copper Harbor; and 
the most southerly is the north-west corner 
of Ohio. The most easterly point is at Port 
Huron, near the outlet of Lake Huron; and 
the most westerly is at the mouth of Mon- 
treal river. The most northern territory 
belonging to the State, is Gull Islet, off the 
extremity of He Royale, which attains the 
latitude of 48° 211. 

The following table exhibits the latitudes 
and longitudes of the principal points of the 
State: 

TABLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONS. 



STATIONS. 



Detroit, St. Paul's Church, 
" Congrega'l Church, 
" Iutersection Fort and 
Griswold Sts., 
Fort Gratiot, Light House, 
Pt. aux Barques, Light House, 
Saginaw, Light House, 
Tavvas, Light House, 
Mouth of Thunder Bay Biver, 
Detour Light House, 
Fort Holmes, Mackinac L, 
Waugoshance Light House, 
N. E. cor. Big Beaver Island, 
Sand Point, Escanaba, 
Menominee, 



LATITUDE. 


LONGITUDE. 


42 19 45.85 


o / / 

83 02 22.73 


42 19 45.64 


83 02 29.07 


42 19 49.85 


83 02 20.63 


43 00 21.86 


82 24 43.96 


44 01 23.35 


82 47 09.87 


43 38 37.84 


83 50 54.46 


44 15 35.44 


83 26 14.57 


45 03 38.90 


83 25 32.b3 


45 57 20.11 


83 54 21.71 


45 51 27.81 


84 36 24.48 


45 47 13.38 


85 04 56.83 


45 45 12.67 


85 29 38.00 


45 44 35.04 


87 02 25.65 


45 05 19.31 


87 35 25.20 



6 



STATIONS. 


Li 


lTITUDE. 


LONGITUDE. 


Grand Haven, Court House, 


o 

43 


03 47.25 


o / // 


" Lake Survey Sta 


43 


03 50.14 


86 14 21.30 


Marquette, Light House, 


46 


32 55 


87 22 12.45 


Vulcan, near Copper Harbor, 


47 


26 44.25 




Ann Arbor, Observatory, 


42 


16 48.30 


83 43 43.05 


New Buffalo, Intersection of 








middle of Whittaker Ave. 








and Mechanics St., 


41 


47 47.00 


86 44 53.55 


Niles, Steeple of Trinity Church, 


41 


49 46.10 


86 15 36.60 


Monroe, Light House, 


41 


53 26.77 


83 19 22.29 


Adrian, 


41 


54 26 


83 59 27 


Hillsdale, 


41 


55 19 


84 33 46 


Coldwater, 


41 


53 30 


85 01 32 


White Pigeon, 


41 


44 59 


85 39 42 


Ypsilanti, 


42 


14 12 


83 37 06 


Jackson, 


42 


14 46 


84 23 01 


Marshall, 


42 


13 38 


84 56 09 


Kalamazoo, ' \ 


42 


17 39 


88 35 58 


Allegan, 


42 


31 49 


85 52 37 


Lansing, 


42 43 53 


84 30 42 


Pontiac, 


42 37 44 


83 17 21 


Owosso, 


43 


00 17 


84 18 21 


Grand Rapids, 


42 


57 59 


85 39 59 


Muskegon, 


43 


13 54 


86 15 51 


Flint, 


43 


01 01 


83 40 58 


Tuscola, 


43 


19 31 


83 39 20 


East Saginaw, 


43 


26 25 


83 55 43 


Manistee, 


44 


13 41 


86 18 42 


Traverse City, E. end Hannah, 








Lay & Co's Pier, 


44 4 


85 36 53.11 


Ontonagon, Light House, 


46 


52 18.35 


89 18 29.46 


Houghton, 


47 


07 15.00 


88 33 27.12 



The foregoing positions, as far as Vulcan, 
inclusive, are selected from the numerous 
determinations of the United States Lake 
Survey ; Ann Arbor has been determined by 
the Director of the Observatory; New Buffalo 



and Mies are from Col. Graham's determin- 
ations ; Monroe, Traverse City, Ontonagon 
and Houghton are from the Lake Survey 
Charts, and the co-ordinates of the remaining 
localities have been calculated from Farmer's 
large sectional map of the "State. 

The following table exhibits the difference 
of time between Detroit and some important 
points in the State: 

TABLE OF LOCAL TIME. 





Time slower 




Time slower 


LOCALITIES. 


than Detroit 


LOCALITIES. 


than Detroit 




Time, 




Time. 




in . sec. 




m. sec. 


Port Huron, 


2 30.57* 


Battle Creek, 


8 34.99 


Pontiac, 


59.85 


Kalamazoo, 


10 13.13 


Monroe, 


1 07.97 


Traverse City, 


10 18.00 


Ypsilanti, 


2 18.89 


Grand Rapids, 


10 20.39 


Flint 


2 34.35 


Allegan, 


11 20.94 


Ann Arbor (Obs.,) 


2 45.35 


Grand Haven, 


12 47.90 


East Saginaw, 


3 33.34 


Mies (TrinityCh.,) 


12 52.93 


Adrian, 


3 48.62 


Muskegon, 


12 53.91 


Owosso, 


5 03.91 


Manistee, 


13 05.29 


Hillsdale, 


5 05.55 


Escanaba, 


16 00.19 


Jackson, 


5 22.54 


Marquette (L. H.,) 


17 18.65 


Lansing, 


5 53.30 


Menominee, 


18 12.16 


Mackinac, 


6 16.01 


Houghton, 


21 04.18 


Marshall, 


7 35.05 


Ontonagon, 


25 04.42 


Coldwater, 


7 56.64 


Mouth Montreal 








River. 


29 59.15 



FOREIGN LOCALITIES COMPAEED WITH DETROIT. 
Greenwich, England, 5 h. 

N. Y. City, (Custom House,) 
Washington, D. C. (Observ.) 
Chicago, 111. (Old Court House,) 
San Francisco, Cal., 2 h. 

* Faster than Detroit Time 



32 


m 


9.51 


sec 


. faster 


36 


« 


9.31 


« 


a 


24 


a 


8.51 


« 


ct 


18 


(i 


22.34 


« 


slower 


37 


<( 


23.00 


tc 


« 



8 

The geographical centre of the main land of 
the Upper Peninsula is on Sec. 35, T. 46, N. 
R. 25, W., about three miles east of the Pe- 
ninsula Railroad, in Marquette County. The 
geographical centre of the main land of the 
Lower Peninsula is on Sec. 24, T. 13, N. R. 3, 
W., township, of Coe, Isabella County. The 
geographical centre of the main land of the 
entire State is on Sec. 3, T. 21, N. R. 8, W., 
in Missaukee County. The geographical cen- 
tre of the entire state, within its political 
boundaries (including the lake-areas belong- 
ing to the State) is on the S. W. i Sec. 30, 
T. 30, N". R. 11, W, very near Provemont in 
Lelanau County.* 

The extreme length of the main land of the 
Upper Peninsula is 318.104 miles, and its 
extreme breadth 164.286 miles. The extreme 
length of the main land of the Lower Penin- 
sula, from north to south, is 277.009 miles ; 
and its extreme breadth is 259.056 miles. 
The greatest actual width of the Peninsula, 
however, measured along a parallel of lati- 
tude, is between Forestville, on Lake Huron, 



* These determinations have been made by ascertaining the 
centres of gravity of sheets of paper of uniform thickness, cut to 
the exact limits of the mapped boundaries of the areas whose 
centres were sought. 



9 



and Little Point Sable, on Lake Michigan. 
The width here is 197.057 miles.* 

The Base Line of the land surveys of the 
State runs "seven miles north of Detroit" 
(probably the Old Capitol), and the Michigan 
Meridian (which rules south to the old terri- 
torial boundary) is 84° 37' west of Greenwich. 
The land area of the State is 56,457 square 
miles, or 36,128,640 acres. 

There are 179 islands included within the 
political boundaries of the State, which have 
an area from one acre upwards. The total 
area of these islands is 404,730 acres. 

The total length of the lake-shore line 
within the State is 1620 miles. Besides the 
larger lakes lying upon the frontiers, the State 
includes within its bounds 5173 smaller lakes, 
having an area of 712,864 acres. The fol- 
lowing Table sets forth the leading data re- 
specting the " Great Lakes." 





Length 
miles • 


Width 
miles. 


Depth 

feet. 


Coast Line 

inMichig'n 

miles. 


Elevation 

above sea. 

feet, 


Area sc[. 
miles. 


Superior, 

Michigan, 

Huron, 

Erie, 

Ontario, 


460 
360 
270 
250 
180 


160 

108 

160 

80 

65 


988 
900 
300 
200 
500 


524 

637 

424 

39 


599.2 

580.6 

580.6 

565 

262 


32,000 

20,000 

20,000 

6,000 

6,000 




1,520 






1,624 




84,000 



* These dimensions are based on the latitudes and longitudes of 
the points referred to, and the calculated lengths of the degrees of 
latitude and longitude in the different positions. 



10 

The two natural divisions of the State are 
distinguished by marked physical characteris- 
tics. They are completely cut off from each 
other by the Straits of Mackinac. The north- 
ern is rugged with numerous rocky expos- 
ures ; the southern consists of plains, plat- 
eaux, gentle undulations and moderate hills, 
with very few outcrops of rocky strata. The 
northern peninsula is a mineral region ; the 
southern, agricultural. The climates of the 
two peninsulas are as distinct as their 
locations and their topography ; and, in all 
statements respecting the climatic features of 
the State, the two peninsulas ought to be 
separately treated. The meteorological means 
for the whole State convey very inadequate 
impressions respecting either of its natural 
divisions. 

The topographical configuration of the State 
has been the subject of very careful study. 
The attempt has been made to collect all the 
important information obtained in running 
the various levels for railroad and canal sur- 
veys, from 1836 to the present time. The 
recent progress of these enterprises is so rap- 
id, that it has been impossible to make the 
tables of elevation absolutely complete, but 
over 6000 elevations have, nevertheless, been 



11 

tabulated, which give the height of the sur- 
face at every point along the surveyed lines, 
at which the superficial slope exhibits any 
considerable change. The planes of refer- 
ence of the various surveys have been elabo- 
rately compared with each other, and all the 
elevations reduced to the Chicago City Da- 
tum — which is low water in Lake Michigan 
in 1847. These elevations, transcribed upon 
the map of the State, have served, in the Low- 
er Peninsula, for the construction of a sys- 
tem of contour lines, or lines drawn through 
points having the same elevation above a 
given plane. We have undertaken to draw a 
contour line for every fifty feet of elevation 
above Lake Michigan, and these are exhibit- 
ed upon the accompanying map. 

Throughout all that portion of the State 
south of Houghton Lake, this map presents 
a good general picture of the surface config- 
uration. North of that latitude, the data are 
insufficient ; and the contour lines must be 
regarded as only rudely approximative. Com- 
bining, however, the exact data at hand, with 
our personal familiarity with the northern 
portion of the Peninsula, and with the infer- 
ences to be drawn from a good map of the 
water courses, we have produced results 



12 

which, with many persons, may be regarded 
as quite preferable to the absence of all infor- 
mation. 

These tortuous lines, to the casual ob- 
server, may seem to be very easily laid down, 
and to possess little interest or value ; but 
every intelligent person will be able to ap- 
preciate their importance, and to understand 
that they represent months of careful labor. 

A general glance at the superficial config- 
uration of the Lower Peninsula, reveals a 
surface swelling gently from the lake shores 
toward the interior regions. The lake wa- 
ters are hemmed in by no mountainous bar- 
riers or rocky ranges of hills. Generally the 
lake shores are depressed. This is especially 
the case around the upper half of Saginaw 
Bay, and along the region from Lake Huron 
to Maumee Bay. Yet, in almost all cases, the 
land rises, within a few miles — sometimes 
quite rapidly, or even abruptly — to the 
height of one or two hundred feet above the 
contiguous lake. Steep, or even precipitous 
shores, are presented in the northern and 
eastern part of Huron county ; through a 
large part of Presq' He county ; around Lit- 
tle Traverse Bay in Emmet county ; and 
throughout Charlevoix, Antrim, Lelanau 



13 

and Benzie counties ; and the statement 
may be extended to Manistee, Mason and 
Oceana counties. Sleeping Bear Point in 
Lelanau county is a bluff of incoherent ma- 
terials facing the lake, and attaining an ele- 
vation of 500 feet. The limestone ridge 
forming the northern angle of the county, 
rises somewhat precipitously to altitudes of 
200 to 300 feet.* Similar elevations ap- 
proach the shore of Little Traverse Bay. 
The Sliding Banks on Hammond's Bay of 
Lake Huron are 77 feet high, and the rocky 
cliffs about Point aux Barques, rise to the 
height of 12 to 20 feet. 

Along the border of Lake Michigan, 
stretches a series of sand-dunes or piles of fine, 
mostly silicious sand, blown up by the pre- 
vailing westerly winds. These attain eleva- 
tions up to 100 and 200 feet. At Grand Ha- 
ven, the highest reaches an altitude of 215 
feet. This is on the north side of Grand 
river. The highest on the south side attains 
an elevation of 205 feet. In the neighbor- 
hood of New Buffalo, they reach heights of 
30, 40, 50 and 93 feet. Back of these dunes 

* For a more particular account of the topography and hydro- 
graphy of this portion of the State see the writer's Report on the 
Grand Traverse Region. 8 vo. pp. 92 with map, 1866. 



14 

the surface is generally depressed, and not 
unfrequently, occupied by a marsh, a lakelet, 
a lagoon or an estuary. As a rule, these sands 
are continually shifting before the wind. 
They are, accordingly, making constant en- 
croachments upon areas occupied and im- 
proved by man. Sometimes, as at Grand 
Haven and Sleeping Bear, the forest becomes 
submerged beneath these accumulations, and 
presents the singular spectacle of withered 
tree tops projecting a few feet above a waste 
of sands. 

The origin of these sands is in the disinte- 
gration or solution of rocks more or less 
arenaceous, and located along the shores to 
the windward, or in the bottom of the lake 
within reach of the agitations of the waters. 
The liberated silicious grains are either 
thrown directly upon the beach, or, through 
a process of bar formation, a new beach rises 
to the surface, with the characteristic lagoon 
between it and the original beach. Thus, 
in many situations, the land is extended 
lakeward, and, while the sands are encroach- 
ing on the landward side, compensation is 
made by the westward retreat of the sand- 
laden beach which supplies the encroaching 
sands. 



15 

Proceeding from the littoral belt of the 
Peninsula toward the interior, we find a 
region considerably more elevated and better 
drained than ancient official misrepresenta- 
tions had led the general public to believe. 
Though presenting no mountainous districts, 
and no indications of the agency of forces 
of upheaval, we have a land-area attaining 
throughout a large portion of the peninsula, 
an elevation averaging from 400 to 1000 feet. 
Erosions, dating back into geological time, 
have pared down the original surface, and 
established the existing slopes to the lake 
shores, and even to the lake bottoms. Later 
fluviatile erosions have scored deep and 
broad valleys, which mark off the prominent 
portions into several distinct regions. 

Viewing the Peninsula as a whole, we dis- 
cover, first of all, a remarkable depression 
stretching obliquely across from the head of 
Saginaw Bay, up the valley of the Saginaw 
and Bad rivers, and down the Maple and 
Grand rivers, to Lake Michigan. This de- 
pression attains, nowhere, an elevation great- 
er than 72 feet above Lake Michigan. This 
elevation is in the interval of three miles 
separating the waters flowing in the opposite 
directions. This spot was chosen, in 1837, 



16 

as the location for a canal, connecting Sag- 
inaw Bay with Lake Michigan. It is obvi- 
ous, that when the lakes stood at their 
ancient elevations, their waters communicat- 
ed freely across this depression, and divided 
the Peninsula into two portions, of which 
the northern was an island. This depres- 
sion, for convenience of reference, may be 
designated the " Gr and- Saginaw Valley." 

That lobe of the peninsular swell which lies 
to the south-east of the dividing belt, has its 
salient longitudinal axis stretching somewhat 
arcuately from north-east to south-west 
through Huron, Sanilac, Lapeer, Oakland, 
Washtenaw and Hillsdale counties. This, 
which may be called the South-eastern 
Water-shed, is not broken through by any 
of the streams, though it is deeply excavated 
by the Huron river, in Washtenaw county. 
Various passes exist across it, and the crest 
rises in four isolated summits. The Oakland 
Summit, located in the north part of Oak- 
land county, attains an elevation, on the sur- 
veyed lines,* of 529 feet, and gives rise to 

* It must be remembered tbat the following discussion is based 
on elevations along lines of survey for railroads and canals. Gen- 
erally, therefore, the numerical values given do not represent the 
highest elevations nor the lowest depressions. 



17 

tributaries of the Flint, Clinton and Belle 
rivers. The Washtenaw Summit, in the 
north-eastern portion of Washtenaw county, 
rises to the height of 394 feet, and over, and 
gives origin, on opposite sides, to tributaries 
of the Huron river. The Francisco Summit 
on the borders of Jackson and Washtenaw 
counties, is 411 feet high, on the measured 
lines, and divides the waters flowing into the 
Huron and Grand rivers. The Hillsdale 
Summit is located in the centre of Hillsdale 
county, and attains two culminations, one in 
the south-western part, between Cambria 
and Reading, where it reaches an elevation 
of 613 feet, and another in the north-eastern 
part, in the township of Somerset. This is ? 
therefore, the highest summit south of the 
Grand-Saginaw valley. It stretches south- 
westward into Indiana, and, on the borders 
of that State, presents a culmination of 546 
feet, while, through the southern portion of 
Branch county, it maintains an elevation of 
400 to 500 feet. The Hillsdale Summit 
stretches also into the south-western part of 
Jackson county, with an elevation of 450 
feet, while a spur 400 feet high, extends to 
Springport in the north-western corner of 
the county. From Hillsdale Summit rise 



18 

the headwaters of the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo 
and Grand rivers, flowing into Lake Michi- 
gan, and the Maumee and Raisin, flowing 
into Lake Erie. Tributaries of the Maumee 
and St. Joseph rise within a mile of each 
other, in the townships of Reading and Allen. 
Tributaries of the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph 
rise within half a mile of each other, in the 
township of Adams ; and these two streams 
approach again within two miles, at Homer, 
Calhoun county. The head waters of the 
Raisin are within a mile of those of the 
Kalamazoo, in the township of Somerset, and 
those of the Maumee approach equally near 
in the adjoining township of Wheatland. 
In the northern part of Somerset are two 
peaks which, perhaps, constitute the real 
culminations of the Hillsdale Summit. Here, 
within an area of two miles by three, we may 
view the head waters of the St Joseph, Kal- 
amazoo, Grand and Raisin rivers ; and an 
area of four miles square would include, with 
these, the highest tributaries of the Maumee. 
The broad north-westerly slope of the 
south-eastern Water-shed is intersected by 
six great rivers — the Shiawassee, the Cedar 
and Grand, which unite at Lansing, the 
Thornapple, which unites with the Grand at 



19 

Ada, the Kalamazoo and the St. Joseph 
rivers, all pursuing a general north-westerly 
course, except the latter, which flows south- 
westerly to South Bend in Indiana, and 
thence north-west. The surface between 
these river valleys rises into a corresponding 
number of swells. Of these, the one between 
the Shiawassee and Cedar rivers, lying chief- 
ly in Livingston county, and reaching an 
elevation of 350 feet, may be regarded as a 
spur of the Oakland Summit. The Ingham 
Summit, which is the next, lies between the 
Cedar and Grand rivers, in the south-eastern 
portion of Ingham county and the contigu- 
ous parts of Jackson, and attains an eleva- 
tion of 391 feet, on the measured lines. The 
Grand Ledge Summit, between the Grand 
and Thornapple rivers, stretching across the 
northern part of Eaton county and into Ionia, 
attains an elevation of only 250 feet. The 
Barry Summit, between the Thornapple and 
Kalamazoo rivers, is a mass exscinded by 
Battle Creek from the northwestern prolon- 
gation of the Hillsdale Summit. It occupies 
the south-eastern part of Barry county, 
reaching, with an altitude of 250 feet, into 
Eaton, Calhoun and Kalamazoo. The north- 
western prolongation of this, cut off by Gun 



20 

river, which unites with the Kalamazoo at 
Otsego, forms the Kent Summit, occupying 
the eastern part of Allegan county and the 
southern part of Kent, and having a culmi- 
nation of 213 feet in the latter county. . Be- 
tween the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph rivers, 
is placed the north-easterly-elongated mass 
of the Cass Summit, which is cut off from 
the western extension of the Hillsdale Sum- 
mit by the south-western reach of the St. 
Joseph river. It covers the north-eastern 
half of Cass county, extending into the south- 
western, part of Kalamazoo, where it finds a 
culmination at an elevation of 349 feet, while 
another culmination in the vicinity of Casso- 
polis reaches an altitude of 384 feet. 

Gathering together the foregoing results, 
we may here present the following compen- 
dious summary : 

RELIEF FEATURES IN THE LOWER PENINSULA. 

SOUTHERN LOBE. 

' Oakland Summit, 529 ft. 

Washtenaw Summit, 394 " 

Francisco Summit, 411 " 

ttmi i i ( Somerset culmination, 600?" 

Hillsdale 3 Cambria « 613" 

Summit | California u 546 « 

Livingston Summit, 350 " 

Ingham Summit, 391 " 

Grand Ledge Summit, 250 " 

Barry Summit, ) 250 " 

Kent Summit, j 213 " 

n a >J Oshtemo culmination, 349 " 
Cass Sum tj Cassopolis „ 3g4 „ 



South-east- 
ern 
Watershed 



North-west- 
ern 
Slope. 



21 

That Lobe of the Peninsular swell which 
lies to the north of the Grand-Saginaw Valley 
is placed, as a mass, midway between lakes 
Huron and Michigan, with its northwestern 
borders crowding somewhat upon the region 
of Grand and Little Traverse Bays of Lake 
Michigan. It exemplifies, like the Southern 
Lobe, a strong tendency to a north-east south- 
west disposition. The primary division of the 
Northern Lobe is effected by the valleys of 
the Manistee and Sable rivers, which take 
their rise upon the highest summit, and flow 
thence toward the south-west and south-east 
into their respective Lakes. The Sable has 
excavated a valley which, in Wexford county 
and the western part of Oscoda, sinks from 
10 to 100 feet below the highest levels, and 
in the eastern part of Oscoda, and in Alcona 
County, 200 to 300 feet below the highest 
levels — the general plains being 90 to 125 
feet above the river The valley of the Man- 
istee (as well as its tributary, the Pine) is 
similarly sunken in an undulating plateau. 

The southern division is bounded south- 
easterly by a continuous slope toward Sagi- 
naw Bay. In its central part it is indented 
by the hydrographical basin of Houghton and 
Higgins Lakes. In this rests Houghton Lake 



22 

at an elevation of 589 feet above Lake Mich- 
igan. From this lake, the Muskegon river, 
the largest of the Peninsula, takes its rise, 
and, flowing south-westerly, marks the posi- 
tion of a broad deep valley, leaving, on the 
south-east, an elongated watershed stretching 
from Mecosta County through Clare and Ros- 
common, into Ogemaw County. This may 
be distinguished as the Central Watershed. 
It presents a general elevation of 700 feet and 
over, throughout its entire length. The Ros- 
common Summit of the Watershed, upon the 
eastern borders of the county by that name, 
attains an altitude of at least 820 feet, and 
the Clare Summit, in the central part of Clare 
County, is believed to attain an elevation of 
750 feet. 

The prolongation of the Central Watershed 
toward the north-east is nearly cut off by the 
South Branch of the Sable river, forming thus 
what may be designated as the Ogemaw Sum- 
mit, occupying the region around the junction 
of the four counties, Ogemaw, Roscommon, 
Crawford and Oscoda. The culminating point 
is believed to be about 800 feet above Lake 
Michigan, while the pass separating it from 
the Roscommon Summit is not depressed 
below 625 feet. 



23 

To the north-west of the central lakes, and 
the valley of the Muskegon, rise three sum- 
mits detached from each other by shallow 
passes. The Crawford Summit, with an 
elevation of over 700 feet, besides occupying 
the south-western portion of the county by 
this name, stretches into Kalkaska, Missau- 
kee and Roscommon Counties. Being bound- 
ed on the north-west by the valley of the 
Manistee, on the north-east by the bifurca- 
ted valley of the North and South Forks of 
the Sable, it is limited on the south-west by 
interlocking tributaries of the Manistee and 
Muskegon rivers. 

The Wexford Summit, in the south-eastern 
portion of Wexford county and contiguous 
portions of Missaukee and Osceola counties, 
includes Clam Lake, and is believed to attain 
an elevation exceeding 700 feet. By the Pine 
river, a tributary of the Manistee, whose high- 
er waters issue from the neighborhood of the 
head- waters of an affluent of the Muskegon, 
this Summit is isolated, on the south, from the 
Osceola Summit, located near the centre of 
Osceola County, and reaching an elevation of 
over 700 feet. 

The northern division of the Northern 
Lobe of the Peninsula embraces the most ele- 



24 

vated land south of the Straits of Mackinac. 
It appears to consist of two principal summits 
separated from each other by the pass which 
gives place to the head waters of the Thunder 
Bay river, and one of the affluents of the 
Sable. The eastern, which we may designate 
the Oscoda Summit, Jbecause located chiefly 
in the northern part of that county, has an 
elevation of 800 feet or more. Otsego Sum- 
mit, to the west, occupies a large part of 
Otsego county, and is said to attain an eleva- 
tion of 1200 feet. Within its limits, take 
their rise the steams which water the Grand 
and Little Traverse regions, as well as those 
which find outlet in the vicinity of the Straits.* 

BELIEF FEATURES IN THE .LOWER PENINSULA. 

NORTHERN LOBE. 

\i { Roscommon Summit, 820? ft. 

1 1 -j Clare Summit, 750? "\ 

Southern J o| (_ Ogemaw Summit, 8o0? " 

Division. | * Crawford Summit, 700 ? " 

Wexford Summit, 700? " 

Osceola Summit, 700? " 

Northern j Oscoda Summit, 800 ? " 

Division. \ Otsego Summit, 1200? " 

* Otsego Lake is represented on the maps as having an outlet 
into the North Branch of the Sable river. This is an error. There 
are evidences, however, of an ancient outlet, at a time when the 
water of the lake stood at a higher level. Recently, moreover, a 
canal has been dug for "lumbering" purposes, which opens con- 
nection into the Sable. The lowering of this lake, like that of 
Houghton and Higgins Lakes, is one of the numberless evidences 
of a gradual process of desiccation taking place all over the con- 
tinent — to the east as well as the west of the Rocky Mountains. 



25 

The enumeration of the foregoing 18 Sum- 
mits, in the whole Peninsula, must not be 
allowed to produce the impression of any 
very marked irregularities of surface. The 
summit- districts are not generally mere hill- 
tops, but level or gently undulating plateaux, 
through which atmospheric and fluviatile 
erosions have excavated drainage valleys of 
moderate depths or with gently bounding 
slopes. This conformation of the surface 
exists to a marked extent in the ]STorthern 
Lobe of the Peninsula. There are, conse- 
quently, few precipitous hill-sides, and but 
very limited regions which cannot be sub- 
jected readily to the operations of agriculture. 

It may convey, in a more exact form, some 
idea of the nature of the surface, to present 
the following statistics of the construction of 
the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw railroad. 
On the 120 miles of the road between Weno- 
na and Otsego Lake, the average amount of 
earth- work per mile was 10,000 cubic yards ; 
the maximum mile, 40,000, and the minimum, 
1,000 cubic yards. The deepest cut is 23 
feet ; the deepest filling, 28 feet, and the 
longest cut, 5,000 feet. The total amount of 
culverting is 500,000 feet, board measure ; 
total amount of bridging, 1,320 feet; num- 



26 

ber of bridges, 15 ; longest bridge, 200 feet ; 
highest, 28 feet. 

As to the Upper Peninsula, the data accu- 
mulated do not enable us to speak with so 
much detail; and no attempt has been made 
to lay off" contour lines. It seems, neverthe- 
less, appropriate to complete our account of 
Michigan topography by offering some de- 
scriptive statements in reference to that 
Peninsula. 

The region between Lake Superior and the 
northern bend of Lake Michigan, limited on 
the east by St. Mary's river, and on the west 
by the Whitefish river, may be referred to as 
the Monistique Peninsula, from the large Lake 
Monistique, occupying nearly a central po- 
sition in it. The principal portion of the 
drainage, to the west of this lake, is into Lake 
Michigan, the water-shed running east and 
west, by a zig-zag line, within six to ten miles 
of Lake Superior. East of Lake Monistique, 
the drainage is chiefly into Lake Superior and 
other waters east of the meridian of the 
Straits. The streams, however, throughout 
the whole interior of the Peninsula, are slug- 
gish, and the regions to the east of Point Iro- 
quois, and about the upper waters of the 



27 

Tequamenon, are largely occupied by marsh- 
es abounding in peat and bog iron ore. 

The southern border of the Monistique 
Peninsula is lined by ranges of limestone 
hills, which, in the vicinity of Point Detour, 
are but slightly elevated, with intervening 
marshes, but, further west, in the vicinity of 
Mackinac, attain elevations of 150 to 300 feet. 
Drummond's Island and the Manitoulin Is- 
lands are but the eastward prolongation of 
the same range of hills, and exhibit eleva- 
tions quite as considerable as those in the 
vicinity of the Straits. The cliffs at the east- 
ern extremity of Drummond's Island are over 
100 feet high, while the surface toward the 
interior, rises to the height of 200 and 300 
feet. The escarpments of Mackinac Island 
are 140 feet high, and the central plateau is 
300 feet high. Westwardly, the same range 
of hills extends to Little Bay de Noquet, 
where, as at Mackinac Island, it presents 
some strongly marked scenery. In approach- 
ing the coast, this elevated limestone region 
is cut by erosions into innumerable islands 
ranging in extent from a mere point of rock 
to several hundreds, or even thousands of 
acres. These, in the vicinity of Drummond's 
Island, and Point Detour, become a literal 
labyrinth with almost inextricable passages. 



28 

Toward the north shore, a prominent range 
of hills begins in the region back of Point 
Iroquois, and extends in a nearly westerly 
direction, to the coast of Lake Superior, where 
it abuts in the famous escarpment known as 
the "Pictured Rocks," and re-appears in 
Grand Island with its towering promontories. 
These smoothly rounded and densely wooded 
hills attain elevations of 300 to 600 feet above 
Lake . Superior. The streams which break 
through the range are interrupted by falls. 
The principal of these is the Tequamenon, 
which has falls of 40, 45 and 15 feet. The 
Au Train, eight miles above its mouth, has a 
fall of 95 feet, and nearer the lake, another 
of 40 feet. 

The immediate shore, between Point Iro- 
quois and the Pictured Rocks, is an alter- 
nation of low, sometimes marshy, plains, and 
rounded sand-hills and promontories. The 
latter, in the vicinity of Carp river, reach an 
elevation of 100 feet, while the Grand Sable 
stands 345 feet above the lake. 

The Whitefish river marks the location of 
a well characterized Valley of Erosion, from 
one to three miles wide, and bounded by un- 
consolidated banks 100 to 120 feet above the 
limestone bottom. The river rises in a series 



29 

of lakelets within nine miles of the shore of 
Lake Superior ; and the Au Train river, 
flowing into the latter lake, takes its rise in 
the same vicinity. Along this valley, the 
most elevated point is not more than 150 
feet above Lake Superior. The writer has 
elsewhere* suggested that this valley is prob- 
ably the site of an ancient outlet of Lake Su- 
perior, whose waters then passed through 
Little Bay de Noquet, Green Bay, and the 
Wisconsin depression occupied by Lakes 
Winnebago, Horicon and Koshkomona, into 
the valley of Rock river, and thence to the 
Mississippi. 

Of the region west of Whitefish river, the 
southeastern portion, between the Menomi- 
nee river and Green Bay, is mostly a gently 
undulating surface, presenting a general 
slope in the direction of the water-courses. 
This slope, in the south-western j>art of Delta 
county, is 430 feet, and near the head waters 
of the Chocolate river, in Marquette county, 

* American Naturalist, Vol. IV., p. 505. Through inadvert- 
ence, it is stated in the Naturalist that the valley is hemmed in by 
"limestone" cliffs. The cliffs are of unconsolidated materials, 
though limestone frequently appears in the bottom of the valley. 
The existence of this valley is not the only evidence that it has 
been a water-course, since the limestone bed is, in some places, 
seen to be worn into pot-holes. 



30 

550 feet above Lake Michigan. North and 
north-west of this, is the mountainous dis- 
trict, g comprising the Iron and Copper re- 
gions, each of which is characterized by its 
own topography. 

The water-shed of the mountainous region 
strikes in a serpentine course, north-west 
from the head-waters of the Chocolate river? 
to within ten miles of the head of Keweenaw 
Bay, whence it bends, by a course still more 
serpentine, south-westward to Lac Vieux 
Desert, on the boundary of Wisconsin. In 
the first reach of its course, it passes through 
the midst of the Marquette Iron District. 
The elevation at Negaunee is 775 feet above 
Lake Michigan; at Ishpeming, to the west 
of the water-shed, 865 feet, and at the Cham- 
pion mine, near Lake Michigami, 1011 feet. 
The summit, on the Marquette, Houghton 
and Ontonagon railroad, is 1186 feet. Lake 
Michigami lies 966 feet above Lake Michigan. 
The hills north of the lake, reach an elevation 
of 1215 feet. The greatest elevation on the 
water-shed is in the vicinity of the sources of 
the Michigami river, which are 1250 feet 
above Lake Michigan. The Huron Moun- 
tains, east of Keweenaw Point, abut upon the 
shore of Lake Superior, and rise in rugged 



31 

eminences which give a marked expression 
of the mountainous character of the Upper 
Peninsula. Mount Huron attains an eleva- 
tion of 932 feet, and other Summits rise from 
760 to 887 feet above Lake Superior. The re- 
gion of the water-shed, south-west from Lake 
Michigami, becomes first less broken, and 
then a gently undulating plain, to the Wis- 
consin boundary. 

Keweenaw Point is a rocky ridge, which, 
beginning with the promontory at the head of 
the Point, forms a water-shed nearly along 
the central line. From the base of the Point, 
the range trends south-west into Ontonagon 
county. Mount Houghton, near the head of 
the Point, is 884 feet above Lake Superior, 
and the range attains nowhere a greater ele- 
vation than 900 feet above the lake. 

Beyond the Ontonagon river, the Porcu- 
pine Mountains may be regarded as a fresh 
development of the range. Rising some- 
what abruptly from the immediate vicinity of 
the lake shore, they trend at first south-south- 
west for about 30 miles, whence their course 
is more westerly. The greatest altitude at- 
tained near Lake Superior, is 950 feet; but 
several knolls further inland, attain eleva- 
tions from 1100 to 1380 feet above the lake. 



32 

In concluding this synoptical sketch of the 
topographical features of Michigan, it remains 
to direct attention to one interesting general- 
ization which has not heretofore been pointed 
out. This is what may be styled the diagonal 
system in the physical features of the State. 
By this expression it is meant to say that 
the longitudinal axes of the topographical 
and hydrographical features of the State, 
especially of the Lower Peninsula, lie in 
directions which are diagonals between the 
cardinal points of the compass. It would 
extend this paper too far, to point out the 
leading facts which illustrate and establish 
this proposition ; but it is believed that a 
brief study of the topographical Chart will 
render the truth of the proposition apparent. 
The subject will be elsewhere adequately 
amplified. 

The diagonal system in American physio- 
graphy is not by any means confined to 
Michigan. The Maumee river of Ohio, with 
its tributaries, is a striking reproduction of 
the Saginaw and its affluents. The Maumee, 
flowing east-north-east, is fed by the Au- 
Glaize and St. Mary's, from the south-east, 
the (little) St. Joseph from the north-east, 
and the Tiffin from the north-west — the last 



33 

named, in its higher reaches, flowing from 
Hillsdale county, Michigan, first south-east 
and then south-west. In Wisconsin, the 
north-east south-west basin of Green Bay is 
prolonged through the Fox river into Lake 
Winnebago. The same trend is seen in the 
shore-lines about Chegowawegon Bay, the 
Apostle Islands and the western extremity 
of Lake Superior. Even the upper Missis- 
sippi, whose general course is meridional, 
divides itself into a succession of reaches, 
conforming strangely to the law of diagon- 
ism, while, on the other hand, the river and 
Gulf of St. Lawrence are a further indica- 
tion that something in the course of events 
which have fashioned the actual surface, has 
exerted a greater energy in the direction of 
the diagonals than in the direction of the 
cardinal points of the compass. 

This is not the place to discuss the causes 
of this well-marked method in the surface- 
configuration of the north-west. It would 
be easy to show that these features sustain 
relations to the underlying rocky structure. 
It would be equally easy to demonstrate that 
they are closely connected with the move- 
ments of the continental glacier, which geo- 
logists believe to have moved, in the lake 



34 

region, from north-east to south-west, during 
the epoch immediately preceding the advent 
of man upon the earth. But, at the same 
time, it would appear that these features do 
not conform exclusively to either set of 
agencies ; and that their actual relation to 
each may be expressed in the following pro- 
position : The actual topographical and hydro- 
graphical axes of Michigan and the whole lake- 
region, are the resultant of two forces — a 
glacial, acting from the north-east, and a 
stratigraphical, acting along the lines of 
strike of the rocky formations. 

As a corollary, we should find that where 
the rocky formations are most consolidated, 
the resultant lies nearest the line of the stra- 
tigraphical force ; and where the rocky for- 
mations are little consolidated, the resultant 
approximates the line of the glacial force. 

As a second corollary, physical features 
determined by causes which have obliterated 
the glacial and stratigraphical trends, do not, 
necessarily, express relations to either force. 
Of this kind are the small streams whose 
courses over the diluvial beds have been 
determined by post-glacial erosions ; and 
river courses, like the St. Clair and Detroit, 
marked out across lacustrine or other post- 



35 

glacial deposits which have concealed the 
surface-features due to geological structure 
or glacial erosion. 



GEOLOGY. 



BY ALEXANDER WINOHELL, L.L.D., 
CHANCELLOR OF THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY. 



A synoptical sketch of Michigan geology 
will naturally be embraced under 
three general heads : 1. Structural Geol- 
ogy. 2. Historical Geology. 3. Eco- 
nomical G-eology. 

I. STETJOTUEAL GEOLOGY. 

The Lower Peninsula occupies the central 
part of a great synclinal basin, toward which 
the strata dip from all directions. The basin 
structure is bounded on all sides by anticli- 
nal swells and ridges. Thus, north of Lake 
Ontario, Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, is a 
portion of the great Laurentian ridge whose 
branches extend from this region toward the 
north-east and north-west. On the north- 
west is the elevated granitic and dioritic 
region stretching from Marquette south-west 
through northern Wisconsin. On the south- 
west, south and south-east is a bifurcating 
gentle swell of the outcropping Devonian and 
Silurian strata, which stretches southward to 
Cincinnati and central Kentucky. 



38 

The limits of this great geological basin 
exceed, somewhat, the bounds of the Lower 
Peninsula, as the centripetal dip can be 
traced, on the east, as far as London, Ont. ; 
on the west, to Madison, Wis.; on the north- 
west, to the vicinity of Marquette, and on the 
north, to the Sault Ste. Marie. Within these 
limits, the outcropping edges of strata older 
and older in the series, are passed over in 
traveling from the centre of the Peninsula 
outward. The whole series of strata may be 
likened to a nest of wooden dishes. The 
great hydrographic features of the region 
present a striking conformity to the trends 
of these outcropping strata, as will readily 
be seen by comparing the longitudinal axes 
of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, as of 
Georgian, Little Traverse and Green Bays, 
with the strikes of the neighboring forma- 
tions, as delineated on the Geological Map. 

The Upper Peninsula is divided by the 
Marquette- Wisconsin anticlinal into two geo- 
logical areas. The eastern, as just stated, 
belongs to the great Michigan basin, while 
the western belongs to what may be styled 
the Lacustrine Basin, since Lake Superior 
covers a large part of its surface. The 
southern rim of the latter is seen uplifted 



39 

along Keweenaw Pt., and the south shore 
of the Lake, while, from this rim, the strata 
dip north-westerly under the Lake, reap- 
pearing in Isle Royale, and, to a limited 
extent, along the north shore of the Lake. 
Between the Michigan and Lacustrine basins 
the metalliferous Marquette- Wisconsin axis 
interposes a separating belt of about 50 miles. 
We here present, in tabular form, a list 
of the geological formations of the State. 

TABLE OF FOEMATIOKS. 
EOZOIC GREAT SYSTEM. 

I. Laurentian System. 

II. Huronian System. 
PALEOZOIC GREAT SYSTEM, 2680 ft. 



III. Silurian System, 


920 ft. 


Lake Superior Sandstone, 


300 ft. 


Calciferous Sandrock, 


100 


Trenton Group, 


60 


Cincinnati Group, 


60 


Niagara Group, 


250 


Niagara Limestone, 


218 


Clinton Sub-group, 


32 


Salina Group, 


50 


Lower Helderberg Group, 


100 


IV. Devonian System, 


1040 ft. 


Corniferous Group, 


120 


Little Traverse Group, 


200 


Huron Group, 


720 


Black Shale, 


20 


Portage Sub- Group, 


500 


Chemung Sub- Group, 


200 



720 ft. 




160 




185 




70 




305 






100 




125 




80 



40 

V. Carboniferous System, 

Marshall Group, 
Michigan Salt Group, 
Carboniferous Limestone, 
Coal-bearing Group, 

Parma Conglomerate, 

Coal Measures, 

Woodville Sandstone, 
C^NOZOIC GREAT SYSTEM. 

VI. Quaternary System. 

Boulder Deposits, 
Modified Drift, 
Lacustrine Clays, 
. ^ Bogs, Marls, Dunes, Soils, etc. 

I. The Laurentian System. — This Sys- 
tem embraces the oldest known stratified 
deposits. It therefore underlies all the other 
strata, and its outcropping border constitutes 
the barrier which limits the great geological 
basins. Only a small portion of the Lauren- 
tian falls within the State of Michigan, and 
its geographical limits have not been com- 
pletely determined. It rises in four distinct 
bosses within the bounds of the Upper Pe- 
ninsula, three of which lie between the me- 
ridians of Keweenaw Bay and Marquette, 
while the fourth lies south of Ontonagon, on 
the State boundary, and stretches far into 
Wisconsin. This System is composed largely 
of granitic, syenitic and gneissoid rocks. The 



41 

latter, in Michigan, are known to embrace 
gneiss, hornblendic and syenitic gneiss, and 
micaceous and hornblendic schists. Granite 
proper rarely occurs; syenite is common. It 
is probable that some of the deposits of white 
crystalline marble north-west of Menominee 
will be found to belong to this System. 

II. The Huronian System. — This Sys- 
tem comprises the mass of imperfectly strati- 
fied rocks with which the great deposits of 
iron ore, in Michigan, are associated. The 
area occupied by them stretches in a widen- 
ing belt from Marquette south and south- 
westward into Wisconsin, — the Laurentian 
bosses protruding through the belt. Litho- 
logically, the rocks consist chiefly of diorites, 
quartzites, chloritic and talcose schists, mar- 
bles and iron ores. The results of the most 
recent studies in these rocks have not as yet 
been published; but Major T. B. Brooks, 
under the direction of the State Survey of 
1869, '70, determined the usual order of su- 
perposition of the rocks, in the Marquette 
iron region, to be as follows : 1. Laurentian 
rocks ; 2. Quartzite ; 3. Talcose schist ; 4. 
Diorite ; 5. Ferruginous Quartzite ; 6. Dio- 
rite ; 7. Ferruginous Quartzite ; 8. Diorite ; 
9. Ferruginous Quartzite; 10. Diorite; 11. 



42 

Ferruginous Quartzite ; 12. Hsematitic and 
magnetic ores ; 13. Quartzites. The quartz- 
ites are whitish or rusty, and vitreous. The 
diorites are composed of feldspar and horn- 
blende — the feldspar being generally albite, 
but sometimes orthoclase or oligoclase. These 
minerals vary greatly in degree of coarseness, 
but the rock is generally distinctly granular. 
The talcose schist ranges from an almost 
pure talc rock to chloritic, argillaceous, and 
sometimes, micaceous, talcite. The ferru- 
ginous quartzites are, in other words, silicious 
or lean haematites, which have been many 
times mistaken for productive deposits, and 
so reported, to the great disappointment of 
investors. The productive iron ores are 
chiefly haematite, undergoing alteration, in 
contact with water, to red chalk and limonite 
("soft haematite"), though magnetite occurs 
abundantly. The mode of occurrence of these 
ores is not in eruptive outbursts (as formerly 
supposed), but in vast lenticular masses 
crowded into the stratification of the schists. 
Their origin is yet a matter of discussion, 
but they seem to be masses segregated from 
the contiguous rocks by some geologic ac- 
tion — perhaps through heat. One of these 
masses, consequently, is not inexhaustible. 



43 

Indeed, several of them have already been 
worked out. 

The Laurentian and Huronian Systems 
are, in this State, wholly destitute of organic 
remains, as far as known. For this reason, 
they were styled, collectively, "Azoic" by 
Foster and Whitney. It is yet uncertain 
whether the supposed animal structures 
found in rocks of Laurentian age in Canada 
and Massachusetts, are truly of organic 
origin. 

III. The Silueian System. — 1. Lake 
Superior Sandstone. — This is the whitish, 
reddish, mottled or drab sandstone — some- 
times shaly — occurring along the south shore 
of Lake Superior, from the St. Mary's river 
to Superior City, and beyond. There has 
been much discussion in reference to its geo- 
logical age. The prevailing opinion, at 
present, makes that portion of it east of Ke- 
weenaw Point the equivalent of the Calcife- 
rous and Chazy formations of New York. 
The portion west of the Point is thought by 
some to be of the same age, while others re- 
gard it as the equivalent of the sandstones in 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, which are gen- 
erally ranged in the horizon of the Potsdam 
of New York. As the uplift of Keweenaw 



44 

Point has tilted the sandstones on the west, 
while those on the east have retained their 
horizontality, there is reason for supposing 
that the eastern strata are of more recent 
origin. It may nevertheless be true that the 
sandstones on both sides of the Point are of 
the same age, though those on the eastern 
side were not permanently tilted by the con- 
vulsion which upheaved the others. As we 
find apparently superincumbent strata which 
answer to the Calciferous, we shall continue 
to parallelize the Lake Superior Sandstone, 
presumptively, with the Potsdam. 

The geographical extent and surface feat- 
ures of this formation are set forth in the 
article on Topography. In its geological 
structure, it consists, as first pointed out by 
Dr. Houghton, of an upper division composed 
chiefly of gray sandrock, and a lower division 
composed of thinner beds of reddish sand- 
rock. These two divisions are further sub- 
divided, as follows : 

(f) Sandstone, light colored, thick bedded, rather inco- 
herent, with bands of conglomerate, one of which 
caps the mass, 20 to 45 ft. 

(e) Sandstone, whitish, friable, thin-bedded, with shaly 
seams, 75 to 100 ft. 

(d) Sandstone, white, friable, massive, 50 ft. 

(c) Sandstone, laminated, micaceous, banded with white 
and red layers, alternating with red arenaceous 
shales, 35 ft. 



45 

(b) Sandstone, uniformly red, somewhat argillaceous, 
thick-bedded, 12 ft. 

(a) Sandstone, red or speckled, thick-bedded, hard and 
coarse-grained, 20 ft. 

In the Ontonagon district, the upper di- 
vision of the sandrock seems to be wanting, 
and its character is generally laminated or 
shaly, sometimes becoming decidedly argil- 
laceous. 

Keweenaw Point is a ridge of more recent 
origin than the Huron mountains and the 
associated upheavals. It consists of an im- 
mense dyke or wall of volcanic rock, consti- 
tuting the axis of the Point, against which 
rest, on the westerly side, alternating strata 
of sandstone, conglomerate and bedded dole- 
rite, aggregating many thousand feet in 
thickness. These features, due to igneous 
action, continue westward to the Porcupine 
mountains. He Royale marks the site of 
another igneous outburst, which has also 
brought into view, along the south-easterly 
side of the island, a reddish sandstone un- 
doubtedly the equivalent of that upon the 
southern shore. 

No animal remains have been discovered 
in the Lake Superior Sandstone ; but the 
writer has described some forms of fucoids 



46 

found near the Montreal river and in the 
Porcupine mountains, under the names of 
Palasopliycus arthrophycus and Palceophycus 
informis. 

2. The Calciferous and Chazy Formation. — 
This formation enters the Upper Peninsula 
at the Grand Rapids of the Menominee river, 
and, trending nearly north in a broad belt, 
as far as township 45, bends eastward to 
follow the strike of the Lake Superior Sand- 
stone, and crosses the St. Mary's river at 
Sugar Island. Its contact with the under- 
lying sandstone is seen near Munising Fur- 
nace, on Sailor Encampment Island and 
elsewhere ; and the limestones of the follow- 
ing group are seen in contact with it at the 
rapids of the Menominee, on the Escanaba 
river, on Sailor Encampment Island, and at 
other localities. 

The formation is a more or less calcareous, 
often coarse-grained, sandstone, with alterna- 
tions of dolomitic limestone, recalling the 
prevailing character of the Calciferous forma- 
tion west of the Mississippi river. The fol- 
lowing is a section on the Menominee river. 

(f) Limestone, fine, crystalline, evenly and thinly 

bedded, with argillaceous partings, 4 ft. 

(e) Limestone, nodular, concretionary, 3 ft. 



47 

(d) Dolomitic limestone, compact, arenaceous, 2 ft. 

(c) Limestone, finely argillo-arenaceous, red-banded 
or variegated with red blotches, in thin and 
even-bedded layers, 3 ft. 

(b) Limestone, hard, dolomitic, with oolitic belts, 4 ft. 

(a) Sandstone, white, coarse, with seams of arena- 
ceous shales, 5 ft. 

The formation is almost destitute of fossils. 

3. The Trenton Group. — These rocks 
are predominantly calcareous. They form 
an outcropping belt, about four miles wide, 
across St. Joseph and Great Sailor Encamp- 
ment islands, stretching thence westerly in a 
gradually widening band which bends around 
to the south-west, lying with its southern 
border on the west shore of Little Bay de 
JNToquet and Green Bay, and continuing thence 
across Wisconsin into northern Illinois. 

The limestones of this Group form the 
Little and part of the Grand Rapids, in the 
Menominee river, and the so-called falls of 
the Escanaba and other affluents of Little 
Bay de Noquet, from the west. 

The following section from the Escanaba 
river will serve as a representation of the 
stratigraphical constitution of the western 
portion of the Group : 

(g) Limestone, impure and dolomitic, in beds 4 to 

10 inches thick, 8 ft. 



48 

(f ) Limestone, thin-bedded, nodular, with irregu- 
lar seams of argillaceous and cherty matter, 12 ft. 

(e) Shales, alternating with arenaceous limestones, 

highly fossiliferous, 30 ft. 

(d) Limestone, light, sub-crystalline, underlaid by 

dark-blue, crystalline limestone, 7 ft. 

(c) Limestone, thin-bedded, uneven, nodular, with 

silicious veins and concretions, 15 ft. 

(b) Dolomitic limestone, thick-bedded and crystal- 
line, 8 ft. 

(a) Limestone, greenish-ashen, with concretions, 6 ft. 

In the region of the eastern outcrops, we 
may dispose the strata of the Group into 
three divisions, as follows : 

III. Limestone, light, brittle, breaking with conchoidal 
fracture, weathering into uneven, wedge-shaped 
slabs. Highly fossiliferous. 
II. Limestone, dark, thin-bedded, nodular, with shaly 

intercalations. Highly fossiliferous. 
I. Areno-calcareous shales, dusky -green or bluish. 
Abounding in fossils. 

Besides the main outcropping belt, an iso- 
lated area of horizontally stratified Trenton 
limestones, 75 feet thick, covering about four 
square miles, is found about 14 miles north- 
west of the head of L'Anse Bay. Sulphur 
island, also, four miles north of Drummond's 
island, seems to be an uplifted dome of Hu- 
ronian quartzite, flanked by steeply inclined 
strata of silico- argillaceous limestone belong- 
ing to this group. 

4. The Cincinnati Group (Formerly "Hud- 



49 

son River G-roup.") — The outcropping belt 
of these prevalently argillaceous limestones 
is nearly concentric with the preceding for- 
mations, but lies nearer the centre of the 
geological basin. The strata are well seen 
on the north side of Drummond's island, 
in a belt about four miles wide, which ex- 
tends with equal width across St. Joseph 
island, and intercepts the southern extremity 
of Sailor Encampment island. On the north- 
west, the Group occupies the space between 
Great and Little Bays de Noquet, forming 
cliffs 15 to 50 feet high along the shore of 
the latter. Excavated along its outcropping 
border to form the basin of Green Bay, it re- 
appears at the southern extremity, and con- 
tinues in the direction of Winnebago and 
Horicon lakes in Wisconsin. Dipping from 
the regions exterior to the Lower Peninsula 
of Michigan concentrically toward the centre 
of the Peninsula, the formation underlies the 
whole of it, making its appearance, on the 
south, in southern Ohio, and thence to Cin- 
cinnati and central Kentucky. 

The following section of strata belonging 
to this Group, is furnished on the east side 
of Little Bay de Noquet, SE i Sec 26 T 39 
I22W: 



50 

(f) Limestone, massive, argillaceous, bluish or 

ashen, and highly fossiliferous, 20 ft 

(e) Blue indurated shale, 2}ci. 

(d) Limestone, very argillaceous and fossiliferous, 

with irregular patches of shale intermixed, 2£ ft. 

(c) Blue shale, greenish on fresh exposures, 5£ ft. 

(b) Limestone, very argillaceous, bluish and fos- 
siliferous, li ft. 

(a) Blue shale, greenish on fresh exposures, 6£ ft. 

The fine exposure upon the north shore 
of Drunimond's Island presents strata of a 
similar character, and abounding in beautiful 
fossil corals. 

5. The Niagara Group. — This eminently 
calcareous group of strata forms a belt arch- 
ing around the northern borders of lakes 
Michigan and Huron. Constituting the 
principal mass of Drunimond's island, it 
trends westward,' underlying the region west 
of the southern half of St. Mary's river, and 
dipping beneath the water of the lakes, where 
it remains visible, sometimes, to the depth 
of thirty or forty feet. It is deeply and 
irregularly eroded along the lake shores, 
presenting innumerable passes through a 
labyrinth of small rocky islands. Continuing 
westward, it underlies the peninsula between 
Lake Michigan and Big Bay de JNoquet, and 
forming the islands south of Pt. Detour, re- 
appears in the Wisconsin peninsula east of 



51 

Green Bay, and follows the coast of Lake 
Michigan thence to Chicago. Along the 
shore of Big Bay de Noquet, it rises in pic- 
turesque cliffs to the height of 100 and 175 
feet. 

Eastward from Drummond's Island, the 
solid masses of this group constitute the 
Little and Great Manitoulin islands, and re- 
appear at Cape Hurd, to form the peninsula 
between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. 
Thence it strikes south-east to the Niagara 
river, which gives its name to the group. 

In Michigan, the group divides itself into 
two divisions, consisting of the Niagara lime- 
stone above, and the Clinton limestone below. 
In New York, further divisions are noted. 
The Magara limestone, as a whole, may be 
described as a gray, crystalline, rather fine- 
grained compact, moderately fossiliferous 
dolomitic mass, attaining a maximum meas- 
ured thickness (on Green Bay, Wisconsin) 
of 217 ft. 10 in. A portion of the mass is 
generally very thick-bedded, more coarsely 
crystalline, vesicular, and abounding in Pen- 
tamerus oblongus, whence it was styled by 
Dr. Houghton the " Pentamerus limestone." 
These beds seem generally to occupy a mid- 
dle position, but observations in the vicinity 



52 

of Bay de Noquet tend to indicate that the 
Pentamerus beds are not always in the same 
horizon. The Clinton limestone is more ho- 
mogeneous, aluminous and fine-grained, and 
contains a paucity of fossils. 

This group is finely exhibited on the 
eastern portion of Drummond's island, where 
the following section of limestone was care- 
fully measured by the writer : 

(p) Hard, crystalline, light gray, weathering 
rough, abounding in Pentamerus and cor- 
als, constituting the highest ledge, 6.00 ft. 

(0) Very thin layers, much broken, 8.00 
(n) Rough, crystalline, geodiferous, abounding 

in Pentamerus and corals, 25.93 

(m) Concealed slope, which, allowing for dip, 

makes, 18.87 

(1) Gray, crystalline, hard, highly calcareous, 

burned for lime. Forms upper ledge 
south of the quarry. 7.00 

(k) Areno-calcareous, weathering harsh, abound- 
ing in fossils. Uppermost rock seen in 
the quarry. 5.00 

(j) Argillo-calcareous below, resembling (h); 
areno-calcareous above, resembling (k) ; 
weathers unequally ; some Cyathophylloids 
at top, 2.75 

(i) Dark, coarsely crystalline, exceedingly 

tough, .25 

(h) White layer, very fine-grained, weathering 

white, cherty-mottled in the lower part, 3.50 

(g) Areno-calcareous with some cherty mot- 
tlings; the lower half very hard, the up- 
per, softer and striped with brown, 4.25 

(f ) Arenaceous, with hard, interlaminated lay- 
ers ; becomes vesicular, 2.00 



53 

(e) Dark gray, very hard, with small geodes. 

Beautifully ripple-marked at top. 2.00 

(d) Arenaceous, thinly laminated, dark colored ; 

traces of fucoids or branching corals on 
the upper surface. Gashed with lamellar 
crystal cavities. 1.25 

(c) Brown limestone, exceedingly tough, .75 
(b) Dark, areno-calcareous, with alumina dis- 
seminated and in wavy streaks, 1.75 

(a) Argillo-calcareous, ashen colored, very fine- 
grained, thick-bedded — a single stratum 
being 4£ feet. Contains Cytherina, an 
Aviculoid and Murchisonia. 6.00 

Distance to the water surface, 1.50 

Total Elevation, 98.30 ft. 

North of this locality, lower strata are seen 
which, added to the above, give us a thick- 
ness here of 75 feet for the Magara lime- 
stones, and 32 feet for the Clinton. 

On the opposite side of the State, in the 
vicinity of the Jackson Iron Furnace, on Big- 
Bay de JNoquet, the following detail of lime- 
stones appears : 

( j) Thin-bedded and argillaceous, 8 ft. 

(i) Talus, sloping back 20 rods, 20 

(h) Coarse, vesicular, massive, fossiliferous, 14 
(g) Very hard, sub-crystalline, fine-grained, 
compact, flint-like, argillaceous, unfos- 

siliferous, weathering bullish, 8 ft. 2 in. 

(f ) Rough, massive, vesicular, fossiliferous, 5 ft. 10 in. 

(e) Fine-grained, crystalline, very compact 

and hard, 2 ft. 

(d) Rather thin-bedded, banded with argil- 

laceous matter, fine-grained, unfossil- 

iferous, 1 ft. 8 in. 



54 

(c) Hard and sub-crystalline, with con- 

choidal fracture, unfossiliferous, 11 ft. 

(b) Rough, vesicular, coarse, weathering in- 
to irregular flags or chips, fossiliferous, 5 ft. 

(a) Fine, hard, sub-crystalline, in beds of 

11 to 14 inches, resembling (c), 7 ft. 8 in. 

Total thickness of exposure, 83 ft. 4 in. 

The total thickness of the Clinton strata 
in this part of the State is 38 ft. 10 in., with 
a persistent, mixed conglomeritic bed of 8 to 
12 inches or more, separating them from the 
Niagara. 

The Magara limestones pass southward 
beneath the Lower Peninsula, but do not 
reach the surface within the southern limits 
of the State, though they have been pene- 
trated in Artesian borings at London in 
Monroe County. 

6. The SaUna Group. (Formerly "Onon- 
daga Salt Group.") — This is a thin series of 
argillaceous magnesian limestones and marls, 
embracing beds and masses of gyspum, and, 
in some regions, strata of rock salt. It is 
the lowest stratified rock in the Lower Pe- 
ninsula. . In the Upper Peninsula, its belt 
of outcrop stretches across the point of land 
north of the Straits of Mackinac, from Little 
Point au Chene to near the mouth of Carp 
river, and following the vicinity of the shore, 



55 

from that Point to West Moran Bay. The 
formation, with the characteristic gypsum, is 
seen, beneath the water- surface, at the Little 
St. Martin island, and at Goose island near 
Mackinac. Dipping beneath the Southern 
Peninsula, it reappears in Monroe County, 
where it has been exposed in some of the 
deepest quarries. Near Sandusky, Ohio, it 
affords valuable deposits of gypsum. The 
formation has also been reached in numerous 
Artesian borings, as at Mt. Clemens, Case- 
ville and Alpena. At the two latter places, a 
thick bed of rock-salt was penetrated, which 
is undoubtedly the equivalent of the bed 
worked at Groderich, on the opposite side of 
Lake Huron. The total thickness of the 
formation is not accurately established, but 
probably, aside from the salt-bed, it does not 
exceed 50 or 60 feet. The stratification, by 
combining observations at remote outcrops, 
may be set down as follows : 



III. Calcareous clay, seen at Bois Blanc. 
II. Fine ash-colored limestone, with acicular crystals, 
as at Ida, Otter Creek and Plum Creek quarries, 
Monroe County, and at Mackinac, Round and 
Bois Blanc islands. 
I. Variegated gypseous marls, with imbedded masses 
of gypsum, as at Little Point au Chene and the 
St. Martin islands. 



56 

7. The Lower Helderberg Group. — This 
group of argillaceous and magnesian lime- 
stones was not known to the public to exist 
within the State until announced by the 
writer in 1870. They form some of the lower 
portions of Mackinac island and the con- 
tiguous shores, and, passing under the Pe- 
ninsula, outcrop along the western end of 
Lake Erie, and constitute a large part of some 
of the islands in that region of the lake. At 
their northern outcrop, they consist of a 
series of chocolate-colored, magnesian lime- 
stones, more or less argillaceous, occurring 
in regular layers 4 to 8 inches in thickness, 
and passing upward by irregular gradations 
into the brecciated mass of the next group, 
showing a thickness of perhaps 50 feet. At 
the southern outcrops, the strata are evenly 
bedded, rather dark-ashen in color, argil- 
laceous, and lined, sometimes, with darker 
argillaceous seams. They are often exposed 
in the quarries of the eastern part of Monroe 
County, and may be stated to attain the 
thickness of about 60 feet. They seem to 
correspond to the Waterlime group of the 
New York series. The fossils seen in Michi- 
gan are Leperditia alta and Spirifer modesta. 
Eurypterus remipes is also found on Put-in 



57 

Bay and other contiguous islands of Lake 
Erie. 

III. The Devonian System. 8. The Cor- 
niferous Group. — This comprises the conspic- 
uous and durable limestone which forms the 
mass of Mackinac, Round and Bois Blanc 
islands, and the elevated promontories of 
that vicinity on both sides of the Straits. 
It underlies a large part of Emmet and 
Presqu' He counties, and forms the Eox and 
Beaver islands of Lake Michigan. On the 
south, it underlies a large part of Monroe 
County, and stretches southward into Ohio 
and Indiana. It is the prominent limestone 
seen at Columbus and Sandusky, Ohio ; at 
Monroe and London, Michigan; and at Lon- 
don and Woodstock, Ontario. This and the 
Niagara are the great limestone masses which 
enter into the relief of the physiognomy of 
the northern states, from New York to the 
Mississippi river, and furnish sites for the 
most valuable limestone quarries. The for- 
mation everywhere abounds in fossils, and 
furnishes us, in the form of fish-remains, the 
relics of the oldest vertebrates which inhab- 
ited our planet. Within the limits of Michi- 
gan, it is everywhere divisible into two well 
marked divisions : a lower, brecciated mass, 



58 

about 150 feet thick, and an upper, somewhat 
evenly stratified mass, about 100 feet thick. 
At Mackinac and vicinity the stratification 
may be generalized, as follows : 

IV. Limestone, more or less oolitic, regularly- 
bedded, 25 ft. 

III. Limestone, unevenly and thinly bedded, 

with silicious veins, and cherty nodules, 75 ft. 

II. Brecciated limestone, the individual frag- 
ments being angular, various in composi- 
tion, and sometimes little displaced from 
original juxtaposition, all re-cemented by 
an indurated calcareous mud, 150 ft. 

I. Conglomeritic bed, consisting of a mass of 
cherty and agatoid pebbles. This occupies 
the place of the " Oriskany Sandstone" of 
New York, though not yet identified with it. 3 ft. 

In the southern part of the State, the brec- 
ciated division presents conspicuous and re- 
markable features along the shore of Lake 
Erie, in the vicinity of Pt. aux Peaux and 
Stony Pt., where it abounds, also, in the 
mineral strontianite. A generalized section 
of the group in this part of the State is here 
presented : 

IV. Brown bituminous limestones, seen in most of 

the quarries of Monroe County; also in 
Presqu' He and Emmet counties, 75 ft. 

III. Arenaceous limestone, sometimes resolving 
itself into beds of friable sandstone and in- 
coherent sand. Monroe County ; also Craw- 
ford's quarry. 4 ft. 



59 

II. Oolitic limestone, as in Bedford and Raisin- 

ville, Monroe County, 25 ft. 

I. Brecciated limestone, sometimes concretionary, 50 ft. 

The Corniferous limestone, as its name'im- 
plies, abounds everywhere in masses of horn- 
stone. These however, do not occur in all 
parts of the formation. The very general 
presence of bituminous matter imparts a pre- 
vailing dark, color to the rock. This is also 
frequently seen disposed in very thin part- 
ings between the strata. Petroleum often 
saturates the formation, and, in many places, 
imparts its characteristic odor. In some lo- 
calities, it may be seen to ooze from the crev- 
ices and float upon the surface of water. 
Naturally, these manifestations have led to 
an unlimited amount of confident, but igno- 
rant and wasteful well-boring. In conse- 
quence of the more or less shattered condi- 
tion of the whole formation, streams of wa- 
ter have coursed through it, and worn out 
extensive subterranean passages and caverns. 
In these, considerable creeks sometimes whol- 
ly disappear ; while they serve also, as means 
of communication between Lake Erie and 
so.me of the inland lakes. 

9. .The Little Traverse Group. — This is 
composed chiefly of the " Hamilton Group" 



60 

proper, of the New York geologists ; but, as 
the lower limits of the Hamilton have not 
yet been clearly fixed upon in this State, we 
apply the above term to a series of lime- 
stones outcropping in the vicinity of Little 
Traverse and Thunder Bays, and constitut- 
ing physically a single mass. They have 
been made the subject of considerable study. 
In 1860 we made an official survey of the 
Little Traverse strata ; in 1866, a special 
survey and report ; and in 1869 the ground 
was again officially examined. As the result 
of all our studies, we submit the following 
generalized arrangement : 

IV. Chert Beds. 

III. Buff, vesicular magnesian limestones, overlaid by 

characteristic crinoidal beds. 
II. Bituminous shales and limestones, composed of 

(b) Acervularia Beds above and 

(a) Bryozoa Beds below. 

^ I. Pale-buff, massive limestones, comprising 

(b) Ccenostroma Beds above, and 
(a) Fish Beds below. 

The total thickness was set down provis- 
ionally at 141 feet, which is probably too low. 

This grouping will apparently hold good 
over extensive regions. The Coenostroma 
and Acervularia Beds are extremely con- 
spicuous on the opposite side of the State, 
while the Acervularia Beds outcrop at Iowa 



61 

City, and the Bryozoa Beds at New Buffalo, 
Iowa. The following is a section of the Cce- 
nostroma Beds near the head of the Bay. 

(d) Dolomitic limestone, pale-buff, very massive, 

breaking into regular blocks, somewhat are- 
naceous, 12 ft. 

(c) Dolomitic limestone, similar to above, vesicu- 

lar, brecciated in places, having a rude con- 
cretionary structure, 20 ft. 

(b) Limestone, thin-bedded below, thicker above, 

broken, with a 10 inch band of dark bitu- 
minous soil at top, and thinner ones below, 10 ft. 

(a) Talus, or sloping beach of fragments, 4 ft. 

Section of Bryozoa Beds (SE \ Sec 1 T 34 N 6 W) 

(e) Limestone, argillaceous, sub-crystalline, the 

thinner layers shaly, terminated by a few 
inches of black shale, 14 ft. 

(d) Limestone, very dark chocolate-colored, argil- 

laceous, compact, much broken, 3 ft. 

(c) Limestone, very dark, bituminous, in beds 

from 6 inches to one foot thick, shaly or sub- 
crystalline, 12 ft. 

(b) Limestone, dark brown, argillaceous, uneven- 

bedded, breaking with a ragged uneven 
fracture, 5 ft. 

(a) Limestone, dark, compact, argillo-calcareous, 
breaking with smooth, conchoidal fracture, 
much shattered, \ ft. 

Section of Acervularia Beds (SW i Sec 2 T 34 N 6 W) 

(d) Shale, bluish, argillaceous, imperfectly seen at 

top of bank, 2 ft. 

(c) Limestone, varying from dark to light gray, 

in beds from one to four feet thick, with a 
. rough, somewhat granular fracture. Few 
fossils. 23 ft. 



62 

(b) Limestone, light or yellowish-buff, varying to 
dark chocolate, argillo-calcareous, breaking 
with smooth fracture into irregular, sharply 
angular fragments, rather even-bedded in 
layers 6 inches to 2 feet thick. In the upper 
part, alternating with bands of black bitu- 
minous calcareous shale and blue clay. The 
clay beds abounding in beautifully preserved 
corals. 17 ft. 

(a) Limestone, grayish-brown, compact, argilla- 
ceous, uneven-bedded, with smooth con- 
choidal fracture, embracing in its upper 
part a 4 inch stratum of black, bituminous 
argillaceous limestone replete with charac- 
teristic fossils. 14 ft. 

The strata embraced in the above section 
seem to be the equivalents of the eminently 
fossiliferous and often argillaceous beds well 
known at Partridge Point in Thunder Bay, 
at Widder and Saul's Mills, Ontario, and 
Eighteen-mile Creek, jN". Y., and the less 
known localities near the head of Cheboygan 
lake and in Alpena county.* 

The belt of strata of the group under con- 
sideration, arches across the northern portion 
of the Lower Peninsula, occasionally out- 
cropping, and everywhere manifesting their 
proximity by characteristic fossils in the soil 
( especially Acervularia, Ccenostroma and 
Atrypa reticularis) and appearing again in 

*For further particulars, see" Report on the Grand Traverse 
Region," pp. 40 to 49 and 83 to 97. 



63 

extensive exposures in Alpena county, espe- 
cially along Thunder Bay river, and in the 
bluffs and islands about Thunder Bay. 
Without entering here into details of stratifi- 
cation, we may offer the following summa- 
rized statements : 

The Coenostroma Beds are extensively de- 
veloped at the water- surface on Thunder 
Bay island and contiguous localities. 

The Bryozoa Beds are seen immediately 
overlying, on the island, and at JSTine-mile 
Point, and are extensively exposed along the 
lower valley of the Thunder Bay river. 

The Acervularia Beds are seen in the cliffs 
along the lake shores north of the mouth of 
the Bay, and in the interior, in Sunken Lake 
and at the head of Cheboygan Lake. 

The Crinoidal Beds are observed at the 
top of the bluff on Cheboygan Lake ; and the 
gray, coarse, magnesian limestones are found 
in Sunken Lake. 

The strata of this age, passing from Thun- 
der Bay under Lake Huron, reappear in On- 
tario, and passing under the eastern part of 
Lake Erie, traverse centrally the western 
half of the State of New York. On Kelley's 
island, in Lake Erie, generally reputed to be 
formed of the Corniferous limestone, we find 



64 

many of the fossils of this group, and it 
hence appears that the limits of the Hamil- 
ton and Corniferous are as obscure here as 
in northern Michigan. 

The Little Traverse group abounds in 
most interesting fossil remains. Besides a 
large number of new species, we have signal- 
ized the occurrence of three new genera of 
corals occurring in the northern part of the 
Peninsula. 

10. The Huron Group. — ( The " Genesee 
Shale," the "Portage" and the "Chemung" 
groups of New York.) This series of pre- 
eminently argillaceous strata constituting a 
single mass, physically, not only in Michi- 
gan, but also in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and 
other regions, we perpetuate by the general 
designation first employed by us in 1859. 
These strata underlie extensive areas in the 
northern and the southern portions of the 
Peninsula. Northward their outcropping 
belt strikes arcuately across the Peninsula 
between the regions south of Grand Traverse 
and Thunder Bays ; while, southward, a con- 
siderable part of Allegan, Yan Buren, Kal- 
amazoo, Branch and Lenawee counties is 
underlaid by it. The physiognomy of these 



65 

regions is generally plain without rocky out- 
crops. 

The general, features of the group may be 
stated as follows : 

The Black Shale, at the bottom, attains a 
thickness of perhaps 20 feet. It is some- 
times laminated and fissile, but frequently 
somewhat massive and indurated. It is a 
very persistent formation, known, with in- 
creasing thickness, in Ontario and all the 
western States east of the Mississippi river. 
In Michigan, we see it outcropping in Grand 
Traverse Bay, on Pine Lake, on Sulphur 
island of Thunder Bay, on the coast east of 
Pt. aux Barques, at several localities in 
Sanilac and St. Clair counties, and in Kala- 
mazoo and Branch counties ; and it is pierced 
in numerous Artesian borings. It is often 
mistaken for a coal shale, or even for coal 
itself; but, though it blazes in a fire, its geo- 
logical position is far below any valuable 
coal deposits. 

The Portage shales come next in order 
above, and consist of a series of whitish and 
greenish, more or less calcareous shales and 
clays almost wholly destitute of fossils, and. 
attaining a thickness of probably 500 feet. 
They outcrop at several points around the 



66 

shores of Grand Traverse Bay, and again, 
extensively, at Port Hope and Other locali- 
ties on Lake Huron, southward. They are 
frequently encountered in river bluffs and 
artificial excavations in the southern part of 
the State. Nodules of Kidney Iron ore are 
everywhere characteristic of the formation, 
as may be seen at Coldwater and Union City. 
At the latter place they have been worked 
for iron. These nodules are found abund- 
antly in the surface deposits of the whole 
southern portion of the Peninsula. At Pt. 
aux Barques, the shales are seen to be inter- 
stratified with thin beds of crystalline and 
fossiliferous limestone ; and such strata are 
also encountered to a limited extent in the 
Artesian borings further south. 

The Chemung Shales, following next in as- 
cending order, cannot be sharply distin- 
guished from the preceding. They may be 
assigned a thickness of 200 feet. If these 
are more, the Portage shales are correspond- 
ingly less, since the thickness of the two has 
generally been found in Artesian borings, to 
attain about 700 feet. Toward their upper 
portion, they become more arenaceous, and 
terminate in a series of laminated, argilla- 
ceous, micaceous, friable sandstones, and pass 
into the lower beds of the next group. 






67 

IV. The Carboniferous System. 11. The 
Marshall Group. This arenaceous and gen- 
erally ferruginous series of strata corresponds 
to the upper or fossiliferous portion of the 
" Waverly Sandstone Group" of Ohio, and 
is probably represented by the Catskill Group 
of New York, as now restricted. It answers, 
probably, to the upper portion of the Old 
Red Sandstone series of Scotland, which, with 
the Catskill, seems to occupy the base of the 
Carboniferous System. The Marshall Group 
was, for a long time, confounded with the 
Portage and Chemung, but was assigned a 
distinct place and designation by the writer, 
in 1859 and 1860. It is seen outcropping in 
the sandstone bluffs of Pt. aux Barques ; and, 
trending thence southward through Huron. 
Sanilac, Oakland and Washtenaw counties, 
it forms the southeastern watershed of the 
Peninsula. In the southern part of Jackson 
and most parts of Hillsdale county, it rises 
in frequent outcrops, and is not unfrequently 
worked as a quarry stone. It is mostly a 
somewhat friable rock, with a reddish, huff- 
ish or olive color, though in some regions be- 
coming gray or bluish gray. The coloring- 
ferruginous matter is very often arranged in 
imperfect concentric layers, presenting, on a 



68 

large scale, a rude concretionary structure. 
At Battle Creek, it becomes decidedly calca- 
reous, and thence toward the northwest, this 
consolidating constituent causes the forma- 
tion to present a marked contrast with the 
friable condition of the rock on the eastern 
side of the Peninsula. 

This formation is generally rich in fossils, 
though they exist, chiefly, in the form of casts 
and impressions. Marshall, Battle Creek, 
Holland, Pt. aux Barques and numerous lo- 
calities in Hillsdale county, are quite produc- 
tive. Fish and crustacean remains are not 
abundant. The molluscous fauna embraces 
many species of Nautilus, Gfoniatites, Ortho- 
ceras, Better ophon, besides Nuculana, Solen, 
Cardiomorpha, and many other genera. 
Brachiopoda, except Rhynchonella, are of in- 
frequent occurrence. 

12. The Michigan Salt Group. — This is em- 
inently argillaceous, but the included stores 
of Gypsum and brine confer upon it a great 
degree of commercial importance. Strati- 
graphically, it consists of beds of clay and 
shale, with thin intercalated strata of lime- 
stone, and an apparently persistent bed of 
gypsum, having a thickness of ten to twenty 
feet. As the group embraces no porous stra- 



69 

turn capable of serving as a reservoir of the 
brine, no considerable supplies of brine ,are 
obtained in the formation, but they occur in 
the underlying sandstones of the Marshall 
group. 

This Group outcrops characteristically, 
near Grand Rapids, and, on the, eastern side 
of the State, on the shore of Saginaw Bay, 
at Alabaster. At both these localities the 
gypsum is extensively worked. Evidences of 
the persistence of the gypseous deposits are 
known to exist many miles toward the inte- 
rior. The formation becomes excessively 
thinned in the southern bend of its circuit. 

The only fossils discovered in the Group 
are obtained from Alabaster. They present 
marked affinities with the fauna of the Car- 
boniferous limestone ; and the writer enter- 
tains little doubt that this Group is a mere 
local condition of the lower portion of the 
Carboniferous limestone. This phenomenon 
is understood to be reproduced in Nova Sco- 
tia. Thickness about 185 feet. 

13 The Carboniferous Limestone. — This for- 
mation answers to some portion of the great 
calcareous deposits of the Mississippi Valley, 
which, for that reason, might be styled the 
Mississippi River Group. In Michigan, it 



70 

outcrops quite frequently in Spring Arbor 
and neighboring portions of Jackson county, 
and very extensively at Bellevue and Grand 
Rapids, and, on the opposite side of the Penin- 
sula, at Pt. au Gres, the Charity islands and 
Wild Fowl Bay. In the eastern outcrops, 
it presents a mass of calciferous sandstone 
at bottom, while elswhere the formation is 
almost exclusively calcareous. At Grand 
Rapids it encloses a stratum of red ferrugi- 
nous, argillaceous limestone, five feet thick, 
which, like some of the other argillaceous 
strata, possesses hydraulic properties. Total 
thickness does not exceed 70 feet. 

The limestones are generally quite fossil- 
iferous. Lithostrotion Canadense may be re- 
garded as indicating some representation of 
the St. Louis member of the Mississippi Val- 
ley limestones, while Spirifera Keokuk, and 
perhaps other forms, establish the existence 
of the Keokuk member. It is probable that 
the highest member — the Chester limestone, 
is unrepresented, as in other northern re- 
gions, while the lowest member may yet be 
shown to be present in the Michigan Salt 
Group. 

14. The Coal-bearing G-rowp. — This occu- 
pies the central portion of the Peninsula, ex- 



71 

tending from Jackson on the south, to Town 
20 on the north, and from Range X. west, to 
Range VIII. east, of the meridian. We may 
distinguish three members, as follows : 

(a) The Parma Conglomerate is the well- 
known " Conglomerate" of the coal regions 
of Ohio and other western States. This is 
the oldest geographical designation bestowed 
upon the formation, and is derived from 
Parma, Jackson county, where it outcrops in 
a quarry of whitish, glistening, somewhat 
friable, massive sandstone, with scattered 
pebbles. It attains a somewhat uniform 
thickness of 100 feet. 

(b) The Coal Measure's, consisting essen- 
tially of a series of carbonaceous shales, 
sandstones, clays, and one persistent bed of 
bituminous coal, from three to four feet thick. 
To these are added local beds of black-band 
iron ore and considerable Kidney ore, though 
neither ore possesses economical importance 
in Michigan. The total thickness of these 
measures does not exceed 125 feet. The fol- 
lowing is an average section : 

V. Bituminous shales and clays, 40 ft. 
IV. Black-band, passing into black limestone, 2 ft. 
III. Bituminous and cannel coal, in one or more seams, 
with aggregate thickness of 3 to 11 feet. 
II. Fire-clay and sandstone, 23 ft. 
I. Shale, clay, sandstones and thin seams of coal, 50 ft. 



72 

(c) The Woodville Sandstone, a persistent 
deposit, presenting variable characters, but 
generally more or less friable, ferruginous 
and gritty. At Woodville it is buffish in 
color, in Shiawassee county, buffish-gray, in 
Ionia county, red and gray-mottled. Thick- 
ness 80 feet. 

The Coal-bearing Group of strata presents 
no general dip. Their normal position is 
nearly horizontal ; but local dips are of fre- 
quent occurrence. Slight geological disturb- 
ances have caused numerous anticlinal ridges 
on which the denudation which leveled the 
country has worn to a greater or less depth — 
sometimes leaving the Woodville sandstone 
at the surface, sometimes exposing the coal 
measures, and at other times even bringing 
to view the Parma Sandstone. Hence the 
local details of the geology within the geo- 
graphical bounds of the Group, are exceed- 
ingly complex and difficult to settle. 

V. The Quaternary System. — The sur- 
faces of the Laurentian, Huronian and Pal- 
eozoic rocks above described are overlaid 
generally by a sheet of unconsolidated mate- 
rials consisting of clay, boulders and sand, 
with frequent superincumbent beds of marl 
and peat. Along the shores of the great 



73 

lakes, these are seen to consist chiefly of 
strictly and horizontally stratified clays, 
mostly of bluish and coppery colors. In the 
interior, we find partially and obliquely 
stratified, alternating beds of sands and 
clays, with occasional courses of boulders. 
In the Northern Peninsula, and, to a great 
extent, in the Southern, a bed of wholly un- 
stratified clay and rounded boulders rests 
immediately upon the rocky surface. The 
superficial beds of marl and peat, with not 
infrequent bogs of iron and manganese, con- 
nect the history of the past with the present. 
The sand dunes along the lake shores are 
merely piles of sand blown up by the winds, 
as explained in the article on topography. 

2. HISTOEIOAL GEOLOGY. 

The first land within the limits of the 
State, was that which we have mapped as 
Laurentian and Huronian. No part of the 
existing continent is older ; while nearly all 
other portions were still sea-bottom, except 
an angulated belt north of the Great Lakes 
and the river St. Lawrence. This original 
area has been subjected to a vast amount of 
subsequent erosion, and correspondingly di- 
minished in its elevation and contracted in 



74 

its dimensions. Its upheaval marked the 
close of Eozoic, and the dawn of Palaeozoic, 
Time. 

At the end of the first period of Palaeozoic 
Time, an igneous outburst called into exist- 
ence Keweenaw Point, the Porcupine Moun- 
tains, and the intervening copper ranges, to- 
gether with lie 'Roy ale and limited areas, 
upon the immediate shore of Lake Superior. 

After this time, there were no local disturb- 
ances of special importance. The whole con- 
tinental mass, east of the Rocky Mountain 
region was,, by degrees, bodily uplifted. The 
Michigan region slowly emerged. The val- 
ley which was to become the basin of Lake 
Superior, was, at first, a bay of salt water. 
With the progress of continental upheaval, 
it became isolated from the sea, and was, for 
ages, a salt lake. The sea still set up the 
valley of the St. Lawrence to the head of the 
present hydrographical basin of Lake Ontario- 

At the end of the Silurian Age, the whole 
Upper Peninsula had emerged, but the Low- 
er Peninsula was still sea-bottom. On the 
west, the continent reached down to Chicago, 
and, on the opposite side, its shore trended 
southeast to London and the Niagara river. 
At the close of Devonian Time, the Lower 



75 

Peninsula marked the position of a vast bay 
opening southward. It is not certain wheth- 
er the anticlinals on the south of the Penin- 
sula had an existence at this early period, or 
not. It is more probable that the coal-mak- 
ing marshes of Michigan were continuous 
with those of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, but 
this is far from certain. 

At the end of the Carboniferous Age, all 
Michigan was dry land. But none of the 
great lakes existed, except Superior. The 
region which is now the centre of the Lower 
Peninsula was probably less elevated than 
the regions which now lie upon the borders 
and in the beds of Lakes Huron and Michi- 
gan. The surface denudations going for- 
ward through Mesozoic and Caenozoic Time, 
isolated the coal regions of Michigan and 
Ohio, if they were ever connected, depressed 
the regions which were to become the basins 
of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie, and ex- 
cavated the first Niagara gorge. The drain- 
age of the great northern sea changed it to a 
lake of fresh water, in which rose the St. 
Lawrence, flowing into the Atlantic, and 
probably another great stream flowing- 
through the hydrographical basin now occu- 
pied by Lake Michigan and the Illinois 



76 

river, to the Mississippi and the Gulf of 
Mexico. No traces of the Flora and Fauna 
of Michigan, during this long period, have 
been preserved; but without doubt, forms 
of animal and vegetable life adapted to the 
physical situation, were abundant. 

At length the region which was to become 
Michigan, was buried, in common with the 
entire northern part of the continent, be- 
neath a burden of accumulated snow and ice. 
This, like modern glaciers, underwent a slow 
motion which imparted a grinding action to 
the sheet of ice, and materially modified the 
surface features of the underlying country. 
The direction of this movement, on the east- 
ern side of the State seems to have been 
from the north-east ; on the western side, it 
may have been more from the north. The 
erosion of the continental glacier gave origin 
to the boulders and finer materials which 
occupy the present surface, and its move- 
ment transported them southward. By such 
action were deepened, if not originated, the 
valleys of Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Saginaw 
Bay and Lake Michigan with its appended 
bays. This action, combined with the strike 
of the underlying strata, has determined 
those trends in the physiographic features of 



77 

the State, which we have designated as the 
" Diagonal System." 

In due time, a change of climate, dissolv- 
ing the glacier, originated torrents of water 
which imparted an imperfect stratification to 
the superficial portion of the drift materials. 
There was, perhaps, a subsidence which 
buried the whole State again beneath the 
waters of the ocean. Whether this were so 
or not, the great valleys excavated by Meso- 
zoic and glacier agencies, were left filled with 
the water which either was, originally, or in 
time became, fresh water. The breadth of 
the great lakes exceeded vastly their present 
dimensions. Lakes Erie, St. Clair and Hu- 
ron were one. Through Saginaw Bay and 
the valley of the Grand River, Lake Huron 
connected with Lake Michigan. The latter 
spread over the prairie region of Illinois. 
By the removal of the eastern barriers, the 
lakes were slowly drained to their present 
dimensions. 

The surface of the Lower Peninsula was, 
at first, dotted with almost numberless small 
lakes. Many of these, by filling with sedi- 
ments, marl and peat, have become convert- 
ed into marshes or even meadows and arable 
lands ; and the remainder of them are un- 
dergoing the same process. 



78 

It is likely that in America, as in Europe, 
man made his appearance while the dissolu- 
tion of the continental glacier was in prog- 
ress. We have, at least, some evidence of 
his presence in Illinois, while the prairies 
were a lake-bottom. 

3. ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 

As the commercial statistics of Michigan 
are presented in a separate article, we shall 
content ourselves, in this connection, with 
little more than a catalogue of the economical 
products of the geology of the State. 

I. METALS AND THEIRi ORES. 1. 
Iron. — (a) Haematite and Magnetite, in im- 
mense lenticular masses of unsurpassed pu- 
rity, in the Huronian rocks of the Upper 
Peninsula. The Haematite presents itself as 
granular, slaty, micaceous, specular, crystal- 
line, and earthy. Under the action of water, 
it becomes soft haematite and red chalk, and 
by a chemical union with water, assumes the 
character of Limonite, which is also styled 
by the miners, soft haematite. It also occurs 
to a limited extent in crystalline forms. The 
magnetite is generally massive and granular, 
with distinct crystallizations, which are some- 



79 

times also disseminated through the contig- 
uous chloritic schists, (b) Limonite, altered 
from the Huronian haematites, as an earthy 
ore or ochre, or, not unfrequently, re-depos- 
ited in stalactitic, mammillary, botryoidal 
and velvety forms of great beauty. Limonite 
occurs, also, in immense quantities, and 
widely distributed over the State, in the 
forms of bog ore, shot ore, yellow ochre, or 
even in some cases, massive rock-like beds, 
(c) Kidney Ore abounds in the Huron clays, 
presenting, like the bog ores, various degrees 
of purity, and, like them, employed to a lim- 
ited extent, for iron-making, (d) Black-land 
in the Coal Measures, but not known to pos- 
sess economical importance. 

2. Coppee. — (a) Native in the "trap" of 
Lake Superior, in sheets, and strings, and 
masses ; also in certain conglomerates and 
grits associated with the beds of trap, where 
it occurs in grains and in powder, like the 
other detrital materials. This is its condition 
in the famous so-called "Calumet Vein," also 
in parts of the Porcupine mountains, (b) 
Chalcopyrite or Copper Pyrites and other 
ores, in the Eozoic and other metamorphic 
rocks. While these ores sustain an impor- 
tant industry in the dominion of Canada 



80 

(Bruce and Wellington mines) native copper 
is the chief resource in Michigan. 

3. Silvek. — (a) Native, existing, to some 
extent, in most of the native copper, and not 
unfrequently associated with it in a state of 

, purity, (b) Existing as a vein ore, in limited 
abundance, in the trappean rocks ; and, at 
Silver islet (Canada) and vicinity, developing 
an important special industry. Also, as a 
sulphide in union with galena, in the dolerites 
of Lake Superior, but not existing to any im- 
portant extent. 

4. Lead. — Galena in unimportant and 
unpromising veins in the dolerites. 

5. Gold. — Native, existing, to a limited 
extent, in the Lake Superior region. 

6. Manganese. — (a) In connection with 
certain haematites of Lake Superior, (b) In 
numerous bogs in the Lower Peninsula, 
where it is sometimes used as a black pig- 
ment. 

II. SALT. — Occurring in the form of brine 
which has its origin in three different forma- 
tions : 1. The Salina Group, which underlies 
the Lower Peninsula, and has been pierced 
and found to afford brine at Port Austin, 
Caseville, Mt. Clemens, Jackson, Lansing, 
Grand Haven, Alpena and other localities. 



81 

Only in the first three does the supply sustain 
the manufacture of salt. At Alpena and 
Caseville rock salt occurs as at Goderich. 2. 
The Michigan Salt Group, which supplies 
most of the wells along the Saginaw river and 
vicinity, and affords a brine of remarkable 
strength, but containing considerable chloride 
of calcium which, nevertheless, as manipu- 
lated, does not interfere seriously with the 
manufacture of salt. v These wells average 
about 800 feet in depth, and pass through 
the whole thickness of the coal-bearing group 
to the Marshall sandstone, into which the 
brine descends and accumulates. The brine 
is obtained from these Artesian borings by 
pumping. 3. The Coal Measures. Some 
of the shallow wells in the lower portion of 
the Saginaw Valley are supplied from this 
source with weaker but purer brine than that 
obtained from the group below. The Parma 
conglomerate serves as the reservoir for this 
group of salt-bearing strata. It may be add- 
ed that the dish-like conformation of the 
strata of the Lower Peninsula, preventing 
the passage of water from side to side, retains 
the soluble constituents of the rocks, and 
hence they are all somewhat saliferous. 
III. MINERALS USED IN CERTAIN 



82 

CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES.— 1. The 

Bitterns rejected in the salt manufacture, 
are now extensively employed in the produc- 
tion of soda. 2. Iron Pyrites occurs in the 
Huron Group in such abundance as to prom- 
ise availability, at some future time, in the 
process of alum-making. 3. Limestone suit- 
able for fluxing, occurs in unlimited quanti- 
ties in the Trenton and Huronian rocks of 
the Upper Peninsula, as also in the form of 
calc-spar veins in the cupriferous region. In 
the Lower Peninsula the limestones of the 
Little Traverse and Corniferous Groups are 
equally available. 

IV. MINERALS USED IN AGRI- 
CULTURE. — 1. Gypsum in remarkable 
abundance, purity and beauty, in the Michigan 
Salt Group, at Grand Rapids and Alabaster. 
Occurs also in the Salina Group at Little Pt. 
au Chene, and may be found, perhaps, in 
Monroe county. 2. Marl, generally dis- 
tributed, and occuring at the bottom of lake- 
lets and marshes. 3. Peat, as the upper- 
most layer on the sites of filled lakelets, and 
around the low borders of existing lakelets. 

Y. MINERALS USED AS PIG- 
MENTS. — 1. Iron and Manganese Ochres, 
in bogs and marshes through the Lower Pen- 



83 

insula and the Monistique Peninsula. 2. 
Ferruginous shales. 

VI. COMBUSTIBLE AND CARBON- 
ACEOUS MATERIALS. 1. Coal under- 
lying about 6000 square miles of the central 
portion of the Lower Peninsula. Generally 
bituminous and of the character of the aver- 
age Illinois coals. Cannel coal exists to some 
extent, but has not yet been developed. The 
principal coal mines are at Corunna and 
Jackson. At Grand Ledge and other points, 
the facilities for mining are equally good. 
The undisturbed condition of the strata has 
left the coal deposit generally so low that 
drainage of the mines is impracticable except 
by pumps. 2. Bituminous Shale, in the 
Huron Group, capable of furnishing oil, gas, 
stearine &c. 3. Petroleum in the Huron 
Shales ; but which, from the absence of anti- 
clinal axes and overlying porous strata, has 
not accumulated in reservoirs. 4. Peat, in 
bogs, throughout the State. 

VII. REFRACTORY MATERIALS. 
1. Sandstone. 2. Fire-clay of superior 
quality, in the Coal Measures. 3. Mould- 
ing sand : (a) White, in the Corniferous 
Limestone of Monroe County ; (b) Colored, 
in the drift. 



84 

VIII. MATERIALS FOR BRICKS 
etc. 1. Clay, in the Huron Group (as at 
Coldwater) and in the lacustrine deposits 
and the ordinary drift, suitable for (a) Com- 
mon Bricks and pottery, (b) Buffish (or 
" Milwaukie") bricks, and even white bricks 
and pottery, as at Spring Lake. 2. White 
sand of superior quality for glass, in Mon- 
roe county, and in the Wobdville Sandstone 
of Jackson county. 

IX. MATERIALS FOR CEMENTS 
AND MORTARS.— 1. Hydraulic Lime- 
stones, in the Salina and Lower Helderberg 
Groups of Monroe County, and probably, 
also, in the Hamilton of Alpena County and 
elsewhere ; also, in the Michigan Salt Group 
of Grand Rapids and Alabaster. 2. Stone 
for Quick-lime, in great abundance. Used 
extensively from the Corniferous, in Monroe 
County, and from the Carboniferous, in Eaton 
and Kent comities. 3. Plaster, in the 
Michigan Salt Group and the Salina Group. 

X. GRINDING AND POLISHING 
MATERIALS. — 1. Gritstones, of superior 
quality, from the Marshall Group at Pt. aux 
Barques, and coarser ones at Napoleon. The 
Huron grindstones have a national celebrity. 
2. Honestones, in the Huronian strata near 



85 

Marquette, from the silicious schists. 3. 
Polishing Powders, in the drift in many 
places. 

XI. BUILDING MATERIALS. — 1. 
Granite, Syenite, Diorite, Gneiss, etc., 
equal to any in the world, in the Upper Pen- 
insula. 2. Roofing Slates, in the vicinity 
of L'Anse and at other points. 3. Sand- 
stones : (a) Brown freestone, somewhat red- 
dish or mottled ; otherwise very similar to 
the Portland (Ct.) brown sandstone. Occurs 
near Marquette, and somewhat inferior qual- 
ities at many other points in the Upper Pen- 
insula, (b) Reddish and mottled freestone, 
from the Woodville formation at Ionia and 
vicinity, (c) Bluish and gray freestone, at Pt. 
aux Barques — same as Cleveland stone, (d) 
Buffish freestone, at Napoleon and Hanover, 
Jackson County, (e) Whitish freestone, in 
Parma formation at Parma. 4. Limestones, 
in the Corniferous, at London, Monroe Coun- 
ty, and in Presqu' He County ; also in the 
Hamilton in Little Traverse Bay; also in the 
Niagara of Drummond's island and Little 
Bay de Noquet — the same as at Lockport, 
N. Y., and Joliet, 111. 5. Sand and Gravel, 
from the drift. 6. Boulders, from the drift, 
extensively used for foundations, and even 
sometimes for superstructures. 



86 

XII. MATERIALS FOR ORNAMENT- 
AL PURPOSES.— 1. Marbles : (a) Statu- 
ary in the Menominee region, (b) Mottled 
and silicious in the Huronian of Marquette 
County, (c) Coralline from the Little Trav- 
erse Group of Presqu' lie and Alpena coun- 
ties. 2. Alabaster, variously colored, from 
the Michigan Salt Group of Grand Rapids ; 
also, white and clouded, from the same group 
at Alabaster. 3. Precious Stones. Agates: 
banded, fortification and moss agates ; jasper, 
chalcedony, chrysocolla, chlorastrolites, etc., — 
all in the doleritic rocks of the Upper Penin- 
sula. 

XIII. MINERAL WATERS. 1. Sa- 
line Waters. — (a) Brines, used tor salt- 
making, as before stated. (b) Medicinal, 
of insufficient strength for salt-making, but 
containing carbonate and sulphate of potash, 
soda and iron, with sometimes traces of lith- 
ia and other ingredients, occurring in the 
form of springs, as at Ann Arbor, St. Joseph 
and other localities, or obtained by boring, 
as at St. Louis, Lansing, Spring Lake and 
many other points. 2. Carbonated wa- 
ters, with more or less of soluble salts, as at 
Eaton Rapids. 3. Sulphur waters, issu- 
ing in springs, as occurs, most copiously at 



87 

Raisinville and on the shore of Lake Erie in 
the town of Erie, Monroe County ; also at 
Ann Arbor and many other points. Also, 
issuing from Artesian borings, especially in 
the Corniferous limestone and the Huron 
Group. As before remarked, the conforma- 
tion of the strata has retained all their orig- 
inal soluble constituents ; hence, all Artesian 
waters in the State, save some outlying, 
leached-out patches of the Parma sandstone-, 
will be found mineralized. The so-called 
"Magnetic" waters of the State are not them- 
selves magnetic ; but marked magnetic phe- 
nomena manifest themselves about the wells. 
These certainly arise, in part, through induc- 
tion from the earth, without regard to the 
waters; but some experiments seem to indi- 
cate a power of excitation of magnetism pos- 
sessed by the waters themselves. 

XIV. MISCELLANEOUS. 1. Litho- 
graphic Stones, of coarse quality, in the 
Clinton and Salina Groups. 2. Stationers' 
Sand, Magnetic iron-sand assorted by the 
waves upon the lake-beaches. 3. Paving 
stones from the drift. 



CLIMATE. 



BY ALEXANDER WINCHELL, L.L.D., 
CHANCELLOR OF THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY. 



THE meteorology of the region of the 
" Great Lakes " is singularly interesting, 
and is, also, closely connected with the indus- 
trial resources and the civilization of that por- 
tion of our country. We have, accordingly, 
bestowed upon this subject, a large amount of 
study, some of the general results of which 
will be embodied in the present paper. Our 
investigations have extended to all the ele- 
ments of climate — temperature, pressure, 
moisture, precipitation, cloudiness, winds and 
occasional phenomena ; and we have com- 
piled voluminous tables giving mean month- 
ly results for series of years at a large num- 
ber of localities, both within and without the 
State of Michigan. Our tables and results 
represent all the meteorological observations 
ever published from within the limits of the 
State, as well as many observations yet un- 
published. For purposes of comparison, we 
have collected similar data, respecting more 



90 

than fifty selected localities lying outside of 
the State of Michigan. The Michigan ob- 
servations aggregate 284 years, and those of 
other localities, 493 years. 

In the present paper we direct especial at- 
tention to the subject of temperature ; and, 
instead of offering a body of statistical tables, 
we present the reader a series of isothermal 
charts, which, with the explanatory remarks 
with which we accompany them, will exhib- 
it intelligibly to the eye, the general ther- 
mometric features of the different parts of the 
State. For the purpose of exhibiting a com- 
parison between the climate of Michigan and 
that of the states contiguous, on the west, we 
have extended the territory covered by these 
charts, as far west as the Missouri river, and 
as far south as Springfield, Illinois. The 
sinuosities of the several lines will demon- 
strate, at a glance, the peculiar character of 
the climate of Michigan, and the fact that, 
both in summer and winter, it is better 
adapted to the interests of agriculture and 
horticulture, and probably, also, to the com- 
fort and health of its citizens, than the cli- 
mate of any other north w.estern state. 

The marked peculiarity of the climate of 
Michigan, in these respects, is attributable to 



91 

the influence of the Great Lakes, by which 
the State is nearly surrounded. It has long 
been known that considerable bodies of water 
exert a local influence in modifying climate, 
and especially, in averting frosts ; but it has 
never before been suspected that Lake Mich- 
igan, for instance, impresses upon the climat- 
ic character of a broad region, an influence 
which is truly comparable with that exerted 
by the great oceans. That such is the fact 
will become apparent when we turn our at- 
tention, for a few moments, to the charts.* 

We take first into consideration the chart 
or set of curves for July. Each of these 
curves — that for 73°, for instance — passes 
through all the places having the same mean 
temperature for the month of July. The 
mean July temperature for several places 

* We think it will be conceded that the present writer was fore- 
most in bringing into notice these great climatic facts. The con- 
clusions of this paper were first foreshadowed in a Report on the 
Grand Traverse Region in 1866, and a paper read, the same year, 
at the Buffalo Meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, entitled " The Fruit Belt of Michigan." The 
subject was followed up in a carefully elaborated memoir on The Is- 
othermals of the Lake Region read at the Troy Meeting of the Asso- 
ciation, in 1870. This paper was appended to the writer's Report 
on the Progress of the State Geological Survey, 1870 ; and an ab- 
stract was published in the Journal of the Austrian Society for Me- 
teorology, at Vienna, Vol. VII. p. 351, et seq. 



92 

along each curve, has been determined from 
good observations continued through a series 
of years ; and the July means for the places 
between the principal ones, along the curve, 
are reasonably assumed to be the same as 
those of the principal places. 

Turning our attention, then, to the curves, 
or isothermal lines for July, we are at once 
impressed by the magnitude of the deflec- 
tions of the isothermals in passing the great 
lakes. These deflections are toward the 
south, in consequence of the cooling influence 
of the lakes. In the presence of that influ- 
ence one must pass to a more southern lati- 
tude to find the same degree of warmth as 
exists in the regions removed more or less 
from the influence. In the lower peninsula 
of Michigan, the lines all form loops open- 
ing southward, showing that the mean tem- 
perature of July, in the interior, is much 
higher than along the lake borders. And 
yet, within the peninsula of Michigan, the is- 
othermals do not attain so high a northern 
limit as in the continental region west of 
Lake Superior. The isotherm of 70°, for 
instance, first appears within the limits of the 
chart in the latitude of 48 c , in the valley of 
the Red River of the North. Passing south- 



93 

easterward and eastward to the valley of the 
Menominee river, it comes within the influ- 
ence of Lake Michigan, and bends directly 
southward through Green Bay and Milwau- 
kie to latitude 42° 40', and thence trends 
northward to Traverse City, in latitude 44° 
40'. Here it is deflected southward again, 
under the influence of Lake Huron, and, 
passing Saginaw and Sanilac, finally bends 
north-eastward to attain its normal position, 
striking Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay 
of Lake Huron. West of Lake Michigan, 
this isotherm sweeps across a latitudinal belt 
of five and a half degrees. Within the 
peninsula of Michigan, it is deflected first 
northward two degrees, and then southward 
one and a half degrees. 

Similar deflections are experienced by the 
isotherms between 67° and 72°. The iso- 
therms of 73°, 74°, and 75° appear to escape 
much of the influence of Lake Huron. The 
isotherm of 74° divides in southern Michigan 
— one branch passing eastward through north- 
ern Ohio and the other through central 
Indiana and southern Ohio. The state of 
Ohio, consequently, constitues an area of uni- 
form temperature in July, which is identical 
with the mean temperature of central Mich- 



94 

igan to the limit of four and a half degrees 
of latitude, or 300 miles, further north. 

An area in the southeastern part of the 
peninsula of Michigan seems to be an area of 
cold ; since the temperature is two or three 
degrees colder than it is on either side. 
There exists a region in this part of the 
State which is topographically elevated about 
300 feet above the general level of the penin- 
sula. It is the region of outcrop of the sand- 
stones of the Marshall Group, but it is not 
entirely coincident with this area of cold. 
An area of warmth seems to be indicated in 
northern Iowa. 

It will be observed that the cooling effect 
of Lake Michigan is somewhat greater on 
the west side than on the east. Not only 
are the isotherms deflected from a higher lat- 
itude on the west side, but they likewise 
attain a somewhat lower latitude. The low- 
est deflection of the curve of 75°, for instance, 
is at Ottawa, 111., to the west of the meridian 
of the lake. The curves of 71° and 72° are 
also somewhat more southern on the west 
side than on the east. This circumstance is 
undoubtedly accounted for by the slight pre- 
ponderance, during July, of winds from the 
east of the meridian. Thus, at Chicago, this 



95 

preponderance is as 60 : 33=1.82 ; at Mil- 
waukie, as 47 : 38=1.30. But at Milwaukie 
and further north, northerly and even north- 
westerly winds feel the influence of Green Bay. 
Contrasting with these results those repre- 
sented on the isothermal chart for January, 
we are at once struck with these phenomena : 
1st, the great deflection of the isothermal 
lines ; 2d, their northward deflection ; and 
3d, the exertion of an excessive amount of 
lake influence upon the east side. All this is 
illustrated by tracing the isotherm of 22°. 
Coming within the limits of the chart a few 
miles southwest of Omaha, it pursues an un- 
dulating course eastward to Ottawa, in Illi- 
nois, when it bends abruptly northward, pass- 
ing west of Chicago, and east of Milwaukie, 
to Northport, at the mouth of Grand Trav- 
erse Bay, whence it bends southward to Co- 
runna, in the middle of the lower peninsula 
of Michigan, and northward again to Thun- 
der Bay Island of Lake Huron, and thence 
east to Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay. 
The isotherm of 23° reaches almost as far 
north ; but, in crossing the peninsula of 
Michigan, it strikes southward into northern 
Indiana and Ohio, thence northward again 
almost to Thunder Bay Island. The sinuosi- 



96 

ties of this isotherm spread over a belt of 
four and one half degrees, or 300 miles in 
width. In other words, the influence of the 
lakes is such that the mean temperature of 
January at Northport and Thunder Bay 
Island is identical with that of Omaha, 
Peoria, Chicago and Fort Wayne. The Jan- 
uary temperature of Mackinac and Mar- 
quette is the same as that of Green Bay and 
Fort Winnebago. 
An island of cold is again indicated in the 
southeastern part of the peninsula of Michi- 
gan. In this case, its form and position cor- 
respond quite exactly with a region of eleva- 
tion. The area in northern Iowa which, in 
July, is an island of warmth, appears to be 
in January, an island of cold. A similar one 
exists in the elevated region of southern 
Wisconsin, while a remarkable axis of cold 
stretches through northern Wisconsin and 
Minnesota. The axis is not entirely coinci- 
* dent with the crest of the ridge dividing the 
tributaries of Lake Superior from those of 
the Mississippi ; since the warming influence 
of Lake Superior crowds it about 60 miles 
southward. 

One of the most striking phenomena exhib- 
ited by the chart for January, is the excess of 



97 

the warming influence along the eastern side 
of Lake Michigan. The isotherm of 231° 
strikes from Chicago directly to Northport, 
almost at the opposite end of the lake. The 
contrast in January temperature between the 
opposite shores of the lake is, for the north- 
ern half, four degrees, and for the southern, 
six degrees. This circumstance is due to the 
fact that the prevailing winds of the region, 
during January, and indeed during the en- 
tire winter, come from the west and south- 
west, and are at the same time, the coldest 
winds. The precise ratios of all the winds 
from the east and the west of the meridian, 
in January, are, at Chicago, according to 
eleven years' observations, as 72:5=14.4; 
at Milwaukie, for thirteen years, as 60 : 18= 
3.33 ; at Manitowoc, for eleven years, as 
67 : 11=6.09. These results embody all Jan- 
uary winds, except those directly from the 
north or south. Thus the winds from the 
west of the meridian are greater in amount as 
well as severity. The reason why the excess 
of warming influence on the east side is 
greater toward the south than toward the 
north is evidently because north, and even 
northwest, winds coming from Green Bay, 
add their warming effect to that of Lake 



98 

Michigan, in all the region north of Mil- 
waukie. 

The isothermal charts for the summer and 
winter contrast in the same way as those for 
July and January, though the contrast is 
naturally less marked. From the summer 
chart we perceive that the isothermal of 72° 
makes its advent upon the northern limit of 
the chart, and disappears upon its southern 
limit, only 12° of longitude further east. 
Coming from the Winnipeg country, it pass- 
es near Dubuque and Ottawa, thence into 
the centre of the peninsula of Michigan. 
Sweeping around this region, it strikes di- 
rectly south to Germantown and Portsmouth 
in Ohio. The summer temperature of the 
Winnipeg region and of central Michigan, is 
identical with that of northern Illinois and 
southern Ohio. Areas of cold exist in south- 
ern Michigan and northern Minnesota ; and 
large areas of uniform temperature in Wis- 
consin, Indiana and Ohio. 

The excess of cooling influence upon the 
west side of the lake, during the entire 
summer, is quite noticeable. The isother- 
mals, in approaching the Lake Superior 
region, make an angle of 45° with the me- 
ridian; and, under the influence of Lake 



99 

Michigan, they become quite parallel with 
the meridian. It does not appear that, in 
the Lake Superior region, any excess of winds 
from that lake exists ; but, in the vicinity of 
Lake Michigan, such excess is well estab- 
lished. At Chicago, the winds from the lake 
are to those from the land, during summer, 
as 151 : 119=1.27; at Milwaukie, the lake 
winds are to the land winds as 142 : 104 = 
1.27 ; at Manitowoc, the lake winds are to 
the land winds as 153 : 123=1.24. 

From the winter chart we notice that the 
isotherm of 24° undulates over a breadth of 
more than 200 miles. Other isotherms are 
similarly sinuated. The mean winter climate 
of Mackinac is 20° ; and is identical with that 
of Green Bay, Fort Winnebago and Fort 
Dodge. 

The excess of the warming influence on 
the east side of Lake Michigan is most appa- 
rent. The winter mean of Chicago is 24 J °, 
while that of New Buffalo, in the same lati- 
tude, is 28°. The winter mean of Milwaukie 
is 22°, while that of its vis-a-vis, Grand Ha- 
ven, is 26°. The winter mean of Fort How- 
ard is 20° and of Appleton, 19°; while that, 
of Traverse City, farther north than either, 
is 23£°. These contrasts illustrate again the 



100 

effect of the prevalence, during the cold sea- 
son, of winds from the west of the meridian. 
As to the isothermals for the spring and 
autumn, it might be expected that they 
would suffer little deflection under the influ- 
ence of the lakes. Comparatively speaking, 
this is the case ; but it will be noticed, never- 
theless, that a marked cooling influence is 
exerted in the spring ; since the isotherm of 
43°, for instance, is deflected . southward one 
hundred and fifty miles. It is worthy of re- 
mark, at the same time, that the maximum 
deflection takes place on the west side of 
Lake Michigan. On the east side, the de- 
flection of the same isotherm amounts to no 
more than twenty miles. In general, we 
find the mean spring temperature of the 
eastern side of Lake Michigan to be about 
three degrees higher than the mean spring 
temperature of the western side. As this 
excess is accumulated in April and May, — 
especially in May — it is at once apparent 
that the circumstance has a most important 
bearing upon the growth of spring crops on 
the opposite sides of the lake. The effect is 
such that the temperature of Grand Haven, 
March 15, is equal to that of Milwaukie, 
March 21 ; that of Grand Haven, April 15, 



101 

is equal to that of Milwaukie, April 24 ; that 
of Grand Haven, May 15, is equal to that of 
Milwaukie, May 28. These contrasts relate 
to mean temperatures. They show that vege- 
tation on the east side secures a start of six 
to thirteen days. Add to this, protection 
from exceptional cold, in the form of spring- 
frosts, and, to this, the effects of a drier and 
lighter soil, and we get a clear and demon- 
strative explanation of the difference of the 
agricultural and pomological products of the 
opposite sides of the lake. 

This contrast of temperatures in spring is 
explained, as before, by the predominance, 
during the cold month of March, of winds 
from the west of the meridian, and, during 
the warmer months of April and May, of 
winds from the east of the meridian. Thus, 
at Manitowoc, in March, the winds from the 
west of the meridian are to those from the 
east, as 43 : 24=1.8; at Milwaukie, they are 
as 44 : 32=1.4; at Chicago, as 57 : 20=2.85. 
On the contrary, the preponderance of winds 
from the east of the meridian, during May, 
is, at Manitowoc, as 37: 26=1.42; at Mil- 
waukie, as 62 : 24=2.58 ; and in April, as 
52 : 33=1.6. At Chicago, including north 
winds, which are here lake winds, the ra- 



102 

tio of lake and land winds, in May, is as 
44 : 40=1.1. 

In autumn, the resultant of the lake in- 
fluences on the west side is almost zero ; 
while, on the east of Lake Michigan, a 
warming effect is experienced, amounting, 
along the southern half of the lake, to one or 
two degrees, and, along the northern half of 
the lake, to three or four degrees. This, as 
before, is caused by a preponderance, during 
each of the autumn months, of winds from 
the west of the meridian. This preponder- 
ance is shown, for Chicago, by the ratio of 
151 : 70=2.16; for Milwaukie, by the ratio 
of 147 : 94=1.56, and for Manitowoc, by the 
ratio of 160 : 60=2.67. 

The advantages thus secured to vegetation 
along the east side of the lake are not less in 
autumn than in spring. These singular facts 
depend upon a shifting of the prevalent 
winds at the end of the cold season, toward 
the close of March, and again at the end of 
the mild season near the close of November. 
An investigation of the monthly means on 
the opposite sides of the lake, during autumn, 
shows that the temperature attained at Mil- 
waukie, October 15, is not reached at Grand 
Haven until October 20. The Milwaukie 



103 

temperature of November 15 is only reached 
at Grand Haven, November 23. Comparing 
Chicago and New Buffalo, we find the Chi- 
cago temperature of September 15 is the same 
as the New Buffalo temperature of September 
21. The October and November tempera- 
tures seem to be nearly coincident. These 
comparisons show that the warm season is 
lengthened on the east side, about six to 
eight days in the autumn. This, added to 
the time gained in the spring, makes the 
growing season, on the east side of Lake 
Michigan, from twelve to twenty-one days 
longer than on the west side — to say nothing 
about exemption from unseasonable frosts 
and a much warmer constitution of the soil 
upon the east side. 

Turning our attention, now, to the chart of 
isothermals for the year, we might anticipate 
that the warming and cooling influences of 
the lakes would exactly neutralize each other, 
so that the isothermals would experience no 
deflection. We find, however, that on the 
western side the resultant influence is slightly 
cooling, and on the eastern side, decidedly 
warming. The resultant of these two influ- 
ences gives a final resultant of a warming- 
character exerted upon the eastern side. 



104 

This final resultant has a value of one-half 
to two degrees. In other words, Lake Mich- 
igan elevates the mean annual temperature 
of the contiguous region nearly two degrees 
above the norm. This results, of course, 
from the fact that the mean temperature of 
the lake waters is higher than that of the 
land. This excess must be considerably great- 
er than the resultant warming influence upon 
the land. Its explanation is a curious and 
interesting subject of inquiry. It cannot be 
caused, as in the case of the Gulf Stream, by 
great currents moving from tropical regions. 
Nor can we attribute it to a large volume of 
river water poured into the lake from regions 
lying to the southward. Some more occult 
cause operates to raise the mean temperature 
of the lake above the normal temperature 
of the land. Some suggestions as to the na- 
ture of that cause have been offered by the 
writer on a former occasion, but it would be 
foreign to our purpose to introduce the dis- 
cussion in this place. 

In studying the influence of the great lakes 
upon the climate of the contiguous regions, 
we should especially note its presence un- 
der circumstances of exceptional cold or 
heat upon the land. For the purpose of 



105 

illustrating these relations, we have con- 
structed two isothermal charts for minimum 
temperatures. One of these. is a chart for 
mean minima, and the other a chart for ex- 
treme minima. By the " mean minimum " of 
a locality, is meant the average of the yearly 
minima for a series of years ; and by the " ex- 
treme minimum," the lowest point attained 
during that series of years. These charts 
present results which are truly striking. 
The isotherms in the vicinity of lakes Huron 
and Michigan, trend literally north and south. 
In the chart of mean minima, the 'isotherm 
of — 15° strikes from Mackinac through 
Manitowoc, Milwaukie, and New Buffalo, to 
Fort Riley, in Kansas, near the parallel of 
39°. Here is a deflection over nearly seven 
degrees of latitude, or about 480 miles in a 
straight line. The meaning of this is, that 
the most excessive cold at Mackinac, for a 
period of 28 years, is not, on the average 
greater than at Fort Riley, 480 miles further 
south. It is one degree less than at Chicago 
for a. term of eleven years. By a glance at 
the chart of extreme minima, we perceive, 
that the lowest point reached at Mackinac is 
but two degrees lower than the extreme 
minimum of St. Louis. Extreme weather of 



106 

Chicago is twelve degrees colder than at New 
Buffalo. The lowest extreme of Milwaukie is 
fourteen degrees below the extreme minimum 
of Grand Haven, while the extreme of Fort 
Howard is twenty degrees below that of 
Northport. In general, while the mean mini- 
mum along the west side of Lake Michigan is 
— 16° ; that along the east side is — 6° ; while 
the extreme minimum on the west side is 
— 22° to — 30°, that of the east side is — 10° 
to— 16°. 

It is proper to direct attention to the im- 
portant bearing of these additional facts upon 
the results of soil-cultivation. It will be re- 
membered that it is not the severity of the 
winter mean, but that of the winter extremes 
which conditions the immunity of exotic 
plants from destructive frost. One killing 
freeze is as fatal as thirty. That one killing 
freeze is as likely to occur at Fort Riley, or 
Leavenworth, or Peoria, or even at St. Louis, 
as at Mackinac. The whole east shore of 
Lake Michigan is 15° to 20° more secure than 
any of the places just named. As grapes and 
peach trees require for their destruction, a 
temperature of — 20°, it is apparent that 
peach orchards and vineyards are perfectly 



107 

secure along the whole extent of the eastern 
shore of Lake Michigan.* 

The rationale of these climatic effects is 
not difficult to discover. It lies in the com- 
paratively low capacity of watery surfaces for 
absorbing and radiating heat. The mean 
temperature of the land, in the middle lati- 
tude of Lake Michigan, is about 44i°, and 
that of the lake, a few degrees higher. In 
July, the temperature of the land rises to 74° 
while that of the lake is not above 51° or 
52°. This difference is partly due to the fact 
that upon the land the heat from the solar 
rays is accumulated near the surface, while 
upon the water it is disseminated through the 
whole mass, at least to a considerable extent, 
by the action of waves and currents. In 
January, the mean temperature of the land 
sinks to 19°, while that of the water does not, 
probably fall below 40°. The atmosphere in 
contact with the water must partake, to some 
extent, of the temperature of the water, and, 
when moving from the water to the land, must 

* This statement refers only to exemption from winter-killing. 
As the northern portions of this belt enjoy a smaller aggregate of 
summer warmth than the southern, another climatic condition en- 
ters to determine the actual productiveness of different portions of 
the belt, and to affect the comparison between the whole belt and 
regions further south in Illinois and Missouri. 



108 

transfer to the land, some portion of the heat or 
cold proper to the lake. The effect is a tenden- 
cy to equalize the land temperatures in summer 
and winter. This tendency is most distinctly 
felt in case of extreme weather. On occasion 
of our coldest weather, the wind blows gen- 
erally from the southwest, and, passing diag- 
onally over lake Michigan for a distance of 
100 to 200 miles must necessarily experience 
a great degree of amelioration. 

In this connection, it is worth while to 
point out the fact that the arcuation of the 
longitudinal axis of Lake Michigan is such 
that a southwest wind striking the Grand 
Traverse region, must have passed over a 
much greater breadth of lake-surface than 
the same wind, in striking the region of St. 
Joseph ; and hence the amelioration of win- 
ter extremes must be more marked in the 
former region than in the latter. It is fur- 
ther obvious that in the rare case of absolute 
calm or a southerly wind at a time of extreme 
cold, no portion of the peninsula would ex- 
perience the warming influence of the lake. 

The foregoing generalizations from the 
numerical data of the science of meteorology 
are abundantly confirmed by the results of 
the attempts made during a few years past to 



109 

introduce the cultivation of peaches, grapes 
and other fruits along the entire belt from 
St. Joseph to Grand Traverse Bay. These 
results are so much a success that it is now 
generally acknowledged that scarcely a su- 
perior fruit-producing region exists within 
the United States. 

The influence of the sea in equalizing tem- 
peratures has long been understood. The im- 
munity from unseasonable frosts secured by 
bodies of fresh water to localities in their im- 
mediate vicinity, has also been universally 
observed ; but the fact that inland lakes, of 
the size of Lake Michigan, exert an ameliora- 
ting agency quite comparable with that of 
the Atlantic Ocean, is something which has 
only been brought to light by recent thorough 
discussions of a wide range of meteorological 
data. On general principles, it has, indeed, 
been asserted by Professor Henry and by 
Blodget, and, at an earlier period, by Hum- 
boldt, that the great lakes of North America 
must exert some influence in deflecting the 
isothermal lines ; but when we come to ex- 
amine any of the charts which have been 
published to represent existing knowledge 
or conceptions, we fail to detect any marked 
inflection of these lines in passing the region 



110 

of the great lakes. In fact, the thermometric 
observations from the fifty-five meteorological 
stations in Michigan have not heretofore been 
employed in tracing out the remarkable tor- 
tuosities of the isothermals of the lower 
peninsula of Michigan. These disclosures 
are destined to take their place among the 
most interesting phenomena of climatolog- 
ical science.* 

We do not deem it expedient to extend this 
paper by the introduction of barometrical 
and psychrometrical results ; but the distri- 
bution of rain and snow is a climatic element 
of such paramount economical importance 
that we think a summarized table may be 
acceptable. We have, accordingly, selected 

* The foregoing general results were embodied in a popular pa 
per published (with reduced isothermal charts for July and Janua- 
ry) in Harper's Magazine for July, 1871. This paper, with the 
charts, has been reproduced in Der Michigan Wegweiser, in Ham- 
burg, and also in the Zeitschrift der cesterreichischen Gesellschaft fur 
Meteorologie in Vienna, Vol. viii. p. 40, et seq. (February 1, 1873.) 
It seems a suggestive commentary on the intelligence of American 
state governments that, while these results, though thus meagrely 
set forth, possess such interest as to be published and republished 
at home and abroad, by newspaper and magazine managers, emi- 
gration agencies, learned societies, medical journals and horticul- 
tural associations, the public authorities of Michigan have neither 
instigated, aided nor endorsed their publication ; but, incredible as 
it may seem, have actually declined, with expressions of derision, 
to publish them to their own citizens and the world. [See Michi- 
gan Legislative Proceedings, March and April, 1871.] 



Ill 

from our voluminous records of results the 
following condensed view of the aqueous 
jDrecipitation at a series of representative 
localities. 

The mean annual precipitation over the 
whole State is 31 inches ; in the Upper Pen- 
insula, 30 inches, and in the Lower, 32 inches. 
This is about the average for Wisconsin, 
Minnesota,Towa, Nebraska and Kansas. In 
the states south and east of Michigan, the 
annual fall of rain and snow reaches 40 to 
44 inches. Further south, and along the 
Atlantic border, it rises still higher. The 
total precipitation throughout the lake-region 
sustains no discoverable relation to the great 
lakes. Aside from the varying influence of 
the great current of moisture from the Gulf 
of Mexico, the- precipitation seems to vary 
with the topography and surface of the coun- 
try. It is singular, however, that, in this 
State, the four localities receiving the lowest 
mean annual precipitation, are situated upon 
the lake shores. These are Tawas, Ontona- 
gon, Mackinac, and Grand Haven. On the 
contrary, however, two other localities, Cop- 
per Falls and Holland, situated in close 
proximity to the lakes, are exceeded only by 
Grand Rapids. 



112 ■ 

The mode of distribution of the precipita- 
tion through the year is a question which 
has an important bearing on the ability of a 
region to sustain an agricultural industry. 
The Table referred to has columns headed 
" Ratio," in which is placed, for each season, 
the ratio of the precipitation for that season to 
the whole annual precipitation at the same 
place. These ratios are expressed in the 
form of percentages. From these percent- 
ages we have calculated the following gener- 
alized Table. 

DISTRIBUTION OF PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE SEASONS. 

(In percentages of Total Precipitation.) 

I Spring. | Summer. | Autumn. | Winter. 



Upper Peninsula, 19 27 28.8 22 

Lower Peninsula, 25.8 28.7 27.3 19.1 

W hole State, 2 3.8 28.3 27.7 20 

In the State at large, we have, as appears, 
considerably less precipitation during winter 
than during any other season. The Lower 
Peninsula presents this deficiency to a 
marked extent, while, in the Upper Penin- 
sula, the spring is the period of minimum 
precipitation, though Copper Falls has a 
marked winter excess. In the whole State, 
and in the Lower Peninsula, the summer 
season is marked by the greatest amount of 
rain ; in the Upper Peninsula, the autumn. 



113 

In the Lower Peninsula the three seasons of 
vegetable growth together receive nearly 82 
per cent, of the whole precipitation. That 
is, the rain-fall, during the growing months, 
is as great as in other states having a total 
precipitation of 35 inches distributed equally 
through the seasons. 

The liability of a region to occasional ex- 
cessive droughts is not indicated by the total 
mean annual precipitation, nor, indeed, by 
the mean seasonal precipitation. An occa- 
sional prolonged and destructive period of 
dryness may occur without materially dis- 
turbing the annual or seasonal means. We 
have, accordingly, selected from the annual 
and seasonal means for a series of years, the 
ones which are lowest for each locality, and 
introduced them in our Table, in the columns 
headed " minima." From the column of 
minima for the year, we observe that the 
extreme minimum at Sault Ste. Marie is 
12.11 inches, which is only 40 per cent, of the 
annual amount, and at Mackinac it is only 
48 per cent, of the amount at that place. 
These numbers represent years of extreme 
scantiness of rain and snow. Had we the 
data, it would probably appear that the year 
1871 was a year of remarkable dryness 



114 

throughout the State. Generally, the ex- 
treme minimum of annual precipitation does 
not fall excessively below the normal annual 
mean. At Detroit, it is 60 per cent, of the 
annual mean ; at Lansing, 81 per cent. ; at 
Ann Arbor and Monroe, 82 per cent.; at 
Ontonagon, 83 per cent.; at Tawas, 84 per 
cent.; at Grand Haven, 87 per cent.; at 
Grand Rapids, 92 per cent., and at Mar- 
quette and Holland, 93 per cent., showing a 
remarkably uniform distribution through a 
series of years. 

The extreme minima of the seasons exhibit 
a much greater departure from the normal 
seasonal means. For instance, in spring, 
the extreme minimum precipitation at Mack- 
inac is only 33 per cent, of the norm ; at 
Sault Ste. Marie, 34 per cent. ; at Marquette, 
43 ; at Ontonagon, 50 ; at Battle Creek and 
Ann Arbor, 54 ; at Detroit, 55 ; at Monroe, 
56; at Grand Rapids, 60; at Thunder Bay 
L, 61 ; at Lansing, 81 ; at Holland, 86 per 
cent. Thus extreme dryness in spring is 
less severe in the lower peninsula than in the 
upper. 

In summer, the extreme minimum pre- 
cipitation at Mackinac is 34 per cent, of the 
norm ; at Tawas, 38 per cent ; at Sault Ste. 



115 

Marie, 39 ; at Detroit, 41 ; at Marquette, 45 ; 
at Battle Creek and Ann Arbor, 52 ; at Lan- 
sing and Grand Rapids, 58 ; at Monroe, 62 ; 
at Ontonagon, Holland and Flint, 68 ; at 
Grand Haven, 90 per cent. This means that 
the liability to extreme dryness throughout 
the summer is greater at Tawas, Sault Ste. 
Marie, Detroit and Marquette than at the 
other places ; and that at Grand Haven, the 
normal supply is never diminished more 
than one tenth. The trustworthiness of these 
generalizations, however, is only in propor- 
tion to the length of the period of observations 
at the several places. 

In autumn, the extreme minimum of pre- 
cipitation at Mackinac is only 22 per cent, of 
the normal precipitation for that season; at 
Tawas, it is 38 per cent. ; at Marquette, 39; at 
Lansing, 40; at Detroit, 43 ; at Monroe, 47 
at Battle Creek, 51 ; at Sault Ste. Marie, 52 
at Grand Haven, 53 ; at Grand Rapids 60 
at Flint, 67 ; at Ann Arbor, 71 ; at Ontona- 
gon, 75; and at Holland, 97 per cent, of the 
norm. 

. In winter, the extreme minimum precipi- 
tation at Detroit is 31 per cent, of the normal 
amount ; at ^Mackinac, it is 38 per cent. ; 
at Sault Ste. Marie, 49 ; at Monroe, 56 ; at 



116 

Ann Arbor, 60 ; at Battle Creek, 62 ; at Mar- 
quette, 64; at Ontonagon, 6Q; at Lansing, 
69 ; at Tawas, 74 ; at Grand Haven, 76 ; 
at Holland, 90 per cent. 

From the foregoing generalizations, it ap- 
pears that the northern localities experience 
a somewhat greater liability to dryness in all 
the seasons. It must be borne in mind, how- 
ever, that the percentages given are percent- 
ages of the seasonal means at the several lo- 
calities. But this mean may be compara- 
tively low. Thus, when we state extreme 
winter dryness at Ann Arbor as 60 per cent 
of the normal precipitation, it will be re- 
membered that the normal precipitation, in 
winter, is only 15 per cent of the whole 
annual precipitation. 

It is apparent that the seasonal minima 
are more excessive than the annual minima. 
It follows from this, that a deficiency of pre- 
cipitation in one season is followed, within 
twelve months, by an excess in another sea- 
son. This accords with popular belief.* 

* The foregoing results are liable to be changed by further ob- 
servations — the most so, at localities where the series of observa- 
tions has not extended over a number of years. Of all the results, 
the extreme minima are most liable to undergo change. It will be 
noticed that the minima given are generally most extreme at those 
localities where the series of observations is most extended. 



117 

We append, finally, a condensed Table of 
the Winds of the State. The numbers in the 
columns denote the number of tri-daily ob- 
servations, in each season and during the 
year, at which the wind, at the several locali- 
ties, was from the directions indicated at the 
heads of the columns. Thus, at Ontonagon, 
in the spring, as the average result of three 
years' observations, the wind was found from 
the north 39 times, from the northeast, 45 
times, and so on. The column headed " Ca" 
denotes the number of times a calm prevailed. 
Some observers report no calm — deciding 
always that there exists some determinable 
movement of the air, however slight. Hence 
the blanks in this column. Many interesting 
generalizations might be based upon the 
Table, some of which have already been pre- 
sented in connection with the discussion of 
isothermals, but we forbear to extend this 
paper. 

The foregoing popularized abstract of me- 
teorological results is but a meagre exhibit of 
the amount of information in our possession, 
but the presentation is probably sufficiently 
full for the present purpose. 



118 





WINDS 


. 












SPRII 




N 


NB 


E 


SE 


S 


SW 


W 


NVV 


Cm. 


Ontonagon 


39 


45 


9 





65 


10 


26 


32 


46 


Marquette 


23 


17 


23 


33 


23 


14 


39 


69 


27 


Sauli Ste. Marie 


28 


18 


52 


57 


23 


26 


46 


57 




Mackinac 


34 


26 


64 


34 


16 


25 


61 


57 




St. James 


19 


23 


33 


19 


16 


84 


16 


52 


14 


Thunder Bay I. 


47 


32 


28 


68 


34 


19 


11 


57 


29 


Tawas City 


4 
20 


40 
132 


22 
25 


15 

28 


■22 
34 


35 
58 


40 
17 


56 
54 




Ottawa Pt. 




Grand Haven 


43 


7 


59 


13 


26 


27 


30 


14 


53 


Flint 


47 


19 


S 


11 


44 


40 


49 


32 




Grand Rapids 


14 


44 


31 


20 


16 


55 


35 


24 


33 


Fort Gratiot 


38 


74 


16 


29 


36 


60 


28 


34 




Port Huron 


57 


16 


1 


21 


28 


44 


26 


44 


10 


Lansing 


14 


36 


27 


20 


13 


61 


42 
157 
53 


17 

5 

"ST 

~25~ 
40 
76 


20 


Cooper 


8 


1 


27 


1 


3 


2 


68 


Battle Creek 


14 


19 


33 


27 


28 


44 


22 


Detroit 


29 


58 


42 
20 
27 


21 
30 
33 


30 
17 
13 


56 
46 
39 


45 

42 
28 




Ann Aroor 


24 


30 




Monroe 


11 


43 







WINDS 


• 












SUMMER. 




N 


NE 


E 


SE 


S 


SW 


W 


NVV 


Ca. 


Ontonagon 


41 


37 


10 


9 


54 


14 


30 


29 


28 


Marquette 


23 


14 


27 


26 


25 


28 


43 


51 


21 


Sault Ste. Marie 


19 


15 


33 


50 


28 


81 


42 


71 




Mackinac 


33 


21 


49 


29 


22 


25 


87 


49 




St. James 


32 


7 


25 


20 


16 


107 


6 


44 


24 


Thunder Bay I. 


62 


20 


11 


52 


56 


26 


14 


50 


24 


Tawas City 


14 

20 


24 
67 


24 
34 


13 

42 


41 
66 


40 
56 


43 

18 


37 
64 




Ottawa Pt. 




Grand Haven 


23 


11 


33 


10 


28 


34 


59 


17 


33 


Flint 


37 


9 


6 


6 


52 


41 


32 


27 




Grand Rapids 


9 


33 


17 


17 


9 


73 


43 


28 


46 


Fort Gratiot 


31 


73 


12 


34 


44 


42 


17 


30 




Port Huron 


62 


10 





16 


41 


77 


11 


57 


4 


Lansing 


12 


28 


19 


15 


14 


78 


40 


14 


55 


Cooper 


1 


1 


24 


3 


3 


3 


82 


5 


140 


Battle Creek 


15 


16 


18 


14 


42 


47 


42 


22 


53 


Detroit 


25 


40 


35 


25 


47 


56 


47 


26 




Ann Arbor 


16 


19 


18 


26 


27 


47 


28 


33 




Monroe 


14 


42 


15 


41 


14 


58 


16 


69 





119 





WINDS 


. 












AUTUMN. 




N 
23 


NE 
"33" 


E 
5 


SE 
16 


S 
68 


SW 
20 


W 

35 


NW 

30 


Ca. 


Ontonagon 


20 


Marquette 


20 


18 


19 


21 


32 


31 


43 


54 


IS 


Sault Ste. Marie 


33 


26 


45 


48 


31 


32 


35 


50 




Mackinac 
St. James 
Thunder Bay I. 


37 
23 
~34~ 


21 
15 
24 


41 
30 
23 


29 
26 
■15 


29 
20 
50 


33 
73 
35 


64 
5 

27 


65 
68 
64 


14 


Tawas City 


9 


18 


10 


12 


32 


45 


40 


36 




Ottawa Pt. 


25 


47 


19 


24 


37 


76 


35 


80 




Grand Haven 


17 


30 


42 


23 


23 


44 


46 


28 


15 


Flint 


43 


12 


4 


8 


59 


43 


28 


26 




Grand Rapids 


13 


37 


22 


17 


18 


65 


36 


22 


43 


Fort Gratiot 


19 


44 


10 


35 


41 


80 


30 


41 




Port Huron 


27 


17 


2 


13 


27 


8S 


26 


33 


14 


Lansing 


10 


35 


18 


13 


14 


85 


35 


20 


48 


Cooper 


2 


2 


23 


2 


5 


4 


111 


6 


117 


Battle Creek 


11 


16 


23 


19 


50 


45 


48 


27 


34 


Detroit 


26 


28 


29 


17 


3S 


57 


62 


30 




Ann Arbor 


20 


17 


17 


35 


37 


66 


37 


33 




Monroe 


20 


31 


15 


30 


18 


57 


27 


65 






Wl 


NDS 


t 







Ontonagon 



Marquette 



Sault Ste. Marie 



WINTER. 



SE 



NW [ Ca. 
39 J 39 
53 15 

"38" 



56 



St. James 



Thunder Bay I. 



Tawas City 



Ottawa Pt. 



Grand Haven 



24 | 30 



Flint 



Grand Rapids 



33 



Fort Gratiot 



Port Huron 



Lansing 



Cooper 



53 



Battle Creek 



20 



120 



WINDS 





YEAR. 




N 


NK 


~28~ 


SE 
27 


268 


SW 
54 


W 

132 


NVV 
130 


Ca. 


Ontonagon 


139 


127 


133 


Marquette 


85 


58 


85 


107 


108 


95 


194 


227 


SI 


Sault Ste. Marie 


110 


86 


187 


201 


110 


120 


153 


217 




Mackinac 


145 


102 


1S3 


124 


96 


110 


275 


227 




St. James 


93 


65 


101 


85 


65 


324 


65 


236 


63 


Thunder Bay I. 


183 


91 


74 


195 


186 


119 


80 


242 


77 


Tawas City 


42 


95 


65 


52 


125 


172 


208 


177 




Ottawa Pt. 


80 


283 


89 


129 


193 


282 


87 


286 




Grand Haven 


115 


67 


169 


59 


100 


144 


193 


S3 


131 


Flint 


162 


50 


25 


57 


206 


163 


152 


118 




Grand Rapids 


47 


147 


92 


77 


61 


255 


160 


99 


150 


Fort Gratiot 


109 


223 
~59~ 


49 
9 


131 

75 


163 

138 


259 
2S5 


114 
103 


152 

178 




Port Huron 


153 


34 


Lansing 


43 


115 


81 


77 


52 


325 


167 


75 


146 


Cooper 


IS 


8 


109 


8 


19 


29 


4S3 


23 


378 


Battle Creek 


49 


63 


107 


82 


146 


186 


210 


105 


129 


Detroi t 


107 


158 


129 


84 


149 


239 


212 


114 




Ann Arbor 


78 


85 


72 


115 


100 


227 


144 


149 




Monroe 


58 


J 47 


70 


127 


61 


212 


10 5 


281 





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M I C HI G A N 

BY AL EX WIN C HE L L . 

ISOTHERMALS: 

Spring 

Axttvurux 




-16 



» MICHIGAN 

BY ALEX WINCHEL L 
ISOTHERMALS: 




Pi 




Tlio Calvert UlliXoDctruil 




The Cnlwrt LitliODclrml. 



\l 






,iv"l'«^'"' : "'""i> 




ASH J, AND 




OF THE STATE OT — 

MICHIGAN 

^^colored to show the _ £ 
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS 

ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL.D. 

'Late Stair, Geologist ot 
Mjc7uga/vEtc. 

EX PI^WLOK OF COIOR^ 

0>al Measure*. J^ 
Parma Sandstone. 
(t l ,bt>iiif' , ii>ii*liiit>' xt " 1 "' 
MrJiigan Salt Group. 
.Uiirslu it /Group. 

Huron Group- 
UttleTlwcrsc Group 

Carmferous Group- 
I,imYrIlcltlcrl>eirj<'/> 

Salina Group. 
Wiagara Group. 

Cincinnati Group. 

Trenton Group. 

(itlciferous&;t'/ui.v.\ 

l.i'u)mriorSanM. 

ImwrSilurGmgtot 

iluronian ■Syxlcin . 
Ziiurcntiaii Sfsta 
Eruptive Rorkx. 



I pic 

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a\> 



nil IJ ./ 



ISA. fcMiiHshmi- 
t.,Sjttn,iV U J 



• 



■rn 




MICHIGAN. 



CONDENSED POPULAR SKETCHES 



Topography, Climate and Geology 



OF THE STATE. 



BY 



ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL. D., 

CHANCELLOR OF THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY; LATE PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, 
ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 



[Extracted, by permission, from Walling's Atlas of Michigan.] 



PRINTED BY 

THE CLAREMONT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 

1873. 



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